Israeli delegation travels to Moscow to stop Jewish Agency closure

The office of the new Israeli Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, announced on Wednesday that a Jewish delegation would visit Moscow on the evening of 27 July. The meeting, initially scheduled for Sunday, takes place one day before the first hearing of the Russian appeal to "dissolve" the Jewish Agency's offices, and is intended to serve as a space for negotiation and rapprochement with Kremlin officials, preventing the closure of the organisation's local branch.

Last week, the Russian Justice Ministry formally filed an appeal with the Basmanny District Court in Moscow, claiming that the Jewish Agency has violated the country's privacy laws and should therefore be closed. Further evidence and details are now expected to be presented during the first hearing scheduled for Thursday 28th.

The legal delegation must "be ready to leave for Moscow as soon as Russian approval for the talks is received", and will work to "exhaust all legal and diplomatic dialogue" to resolve the conflict, were the orders of leader Yair Lapid in this situation, as early as Sunday. However, the Kremlin's refusal to issue the necessary visas until Monday night delayed the Hebrew representatives' trip, and has increased tension between the two powers.

The Jewish Agency for the Land of Israel, which was founded in 1929 and played a key role in the establishment of the State of Israel (in 1948), is today the largest Jewish non-profit organisation in the world. Although it officially claims to be independent, its close ties with the State of Israel make it a quasi-governmental institution, one of the main aims of which is to facilitate the migration of Jewish people from any country in the world to Jewish territory. 

Its work on Russian soil began when Russia was still part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1989 - two years before the collapse of the regime - and thus contributed to the departure of hundreds of thousands of Jews from the USSR during the decline of the communist giant.

"Relations between Russia and Israel are based on a long history, regular communication and mutual interests," a spokesman for Prime Minister Yair Lapid said a few days ago. "And the Jewish community is at the heart of these relations." However, the recent appeal by the Russian Justice Ministry to the country's judicial authorities, requesting the closure of the local branch of the Jewish Agency, seems to reflect a very different situation.

While Russian-Israeli ties have progressively deteriorated since the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, the recent arrival of Yair Lapid (Foreign Minister under Naftali Bennet) as head of the Hebrew government has only accentuated the misunderstandings. 

"It didn't happen under [former prime minister Naftali] Bennett. It didn't happen under [former prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu. There is something about this government," political analyst Ksenia Svetlova told The Times of Israel. Yair Lapid's harsh rhetoric against Moscow's "special military operation" on Ukrainian soil - which he has described as a violation of the "world order" - while cautious, is a far cry from the sweetened position of his predecessor, Naftali Bennett, who limited direct criticism of the invasion and worked to play a mediating role between Kiev and Moscow.

Analysts have therefore argued that the attempt to dismantle the Jewish Agency of Russia may be nothing more than a warning from the Kremlin in response to Lapid's continued condemnation of the invasion.

"The closure of the Jewish Agency's offices would be a serious development that would affect relations," Yair Lapid warned during a meeting with government leaders on Sunday. And while Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged Israel "not to politicise the situation, not to project it onto Russian-Israeli relations as a whole", and "to have a careful attitude towards the situation", Nachman Shai, Israel's Minister of Diaspora Affairs, was quick to warn: "Russian Jews will not be held hostage to the war in Ukraine. The attempt to punish the Jewish Agency for Israel's stance on the war is deplorable and offensive". 

For his part, Ambassador Arkady Mil-Man argued in an article for the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies that other reasons for this decision could also include a significant rise in anti-Semitic sentiment in the country, the inadequate response of the Jewish Agency itself, and growing intolerance towards foreign entities. This has been highlighted by the Kremlin's recent broadening of the concept of "foreign agent" to include any entity that receives foreign support and engages in actions deemed to be against the national interest.

Since the beginning of the war, the Israeli organisation has facilitated the transfer of thousands of Ukrainians and more than 10,000 Russians to the Jewish territory under the so-called 'Law of Return'. As a result, it is already home to a Russian-speaking population of around 1.2 million people. 

Since the start of the war, the relative serenity at the Barash border crossing has abruptly turned to chaos. Approximately 150,000 Ukrainian refugees have crossed the border into Hungary, with Jewish Agency staff there to assist.https://t.co/JAr7hKbByI pic.twitter.com/rG5hlX1Rcx

— The Jewish Agency for Israel (@JewishAgency) March 23, 2022

And while Israel has neither imposed sanctions on Moscow, as its Western partners have, nor sent military aid to Ukraine, the Hebrew government has sent humanitarian aid and shipments of helmets and bullet-proof waistcoats to the country under attack, and has described the Russian offensive as an 'unjustified invasion'. But even in his critical stance, Lapid has been unwilling to completely lose rhetorical restraint, as his alliance with the Kremlin is essential to maintain attack positions on Iranian militias and groups linked to Tehran (Israel's main regional enemy) on Syrian territory, where Moscow's troops support the regime of Bashar al-Assad.