JERUSALEM: A Russian decision to shut down an agency that processes the immigration of Jews to Israel would be a “ serious event ” impacting bilateral ties, Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on Sunday.
A Moscow court said last week that the justice ministry had requested the “ dissolution ” of the Jewish Agency because of unidentified legal violations, and set a hail for July 28.
Some experts interpreted that as a warning shot from the Kremlin towards Lapid, who has taken a tougher rhetorical line over the Ukraine conflict than Israel’s former premier Naftali Bennett, who stepped away on July 1.
Lapid told a meeting of elderly officers that “ closing the Jewish Agency services would be a serious event that would affect relations ”, a government statement said.
He also ordered that a “ legal delegation be prepared to depart for Moscow as soon as the Russian blessing for addresses is entered and to make every trouble to exhaust the legal dialogue ”, on top of politic sweats to ease the disagreement.
The Jewish Agency, established in 1929, played a crucial part in the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
It began working in Russia in 1989, two times before the end of the Soviet Union, after which hundreds of thousands of Jews from each over the USSR left for Israel.
further than a million Israeli citizens moment are firstly from the Soviet Union.
ending the agency’s Russian branch would not stop Russian Jews from moving to Israel — only a full Russian border check could achieve that but it could decelerate down the process.
incontinently following the February 24 irruption of Ukraine, Lapid as foreign minister indicted Russia of violating the “ world order ”, while Bennett stressed Israel’s strong relations with both sides, withheld direct review of the irruption and latterly tried to play a part of middleman between Kyiv and Moscow.
Lapid has renewed his review of Russia since getting high minister, but has still tried to walk a conservative line in order to save ties with Moscow, which are seen as pivotal to conserving Israel’s capability to carry out air strikes in Syria where Russian forces are present.
