Russia denies that it would try to combat the accelerating brain drain from the country to Israel and would limit the activities of an organization that supports migration.
More than 160,000 people have immigrated to Israel during the spring from different parts of the world, says the Jewish Agency, an organization that helps Jews to Israel. Many of those who moved have come as refugees from Ukraine or immigrants from Russia.
According to the Israel Immigration Service, more than 18,000 Russian immigrants arrived in the country between February 24 and July 31. On Wednesday, the British BBC (switch to another service)reported that the Jewish Agency has helped more than 20,000 Russian Jews to Israel since the war began.
Thousands of Russians have also moved to other countries.
Russia is pushing to ban Jewish organizations in the country
The Jewish Agency is an organization that helps Jews immigrate to Israel. The organization has been operating in Russia since 1989.
Israel automatically grants citizenship to anyone who can prove that at least one of their grandparents was Jewish.
According to estimates, there are approximately 600,000 people living in Russia who could, if they wished, move to Israel under the regulation on return migration.
According to the Ministry of Justice of Russia, the organization has forwarded the information of Russian citizens abroad.
Russian law prohibits organizations from handing over personal data outside of Russia’s borders.
Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post (you will switch to another service) wrote that the Russian Ministry of Justice sent a letter to the organization demanding the closure of the organization’s Moscow office already at the beginning of July.
Israel condemns Russia’s military actions in Ukraine
At the beginning of August, Israel sent a delegation to Russia to discuss the fate of the organization.
Israel Hayom (you switch to another service) – magazine, the results of the negotiations remained thin. The Kremlin did not accept, but also did not reject the organization’s proposal that in the future it would process data in accordance with Russian legislation.
After the meeting, Israel’s interim prime minister Yair Lapid gave the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the task of drawing up a list of countermeasures if the judicial authorities end up banning the organization in Russia.
Among other things, the war in Ukraine is causing friction between Israel and Russia.
Russia uses the name of the Ukrainian government as the Nazi government, even though the president Volodymyr Zelenskyi is ethnically Jewish.
In April, the UN General Assembly temporarily expelled Russia from the Human Rights Council. Israel also advocated the separation of Russia. Lapid, who was Israel’s foreign minister at the time, accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine.