Russia’s justice ministry is seeking to shut down the Russian branch of the Jewish Agency, the body that processes the immigration of Jews to Israel, a Moscow court said on Thursday.
Ekaterina Buravtsova, a Basmany court spokeswoman, said the court ‘received an administrative complaint from the justice ministry’s main department requesting the dissolution’ of the Jewish Agency’s Russian branch.
“The court received an administrative complaint from the justice ministry’s main department requesting the dissolution… of the organisation ‘Support for links with the Jewish diaspora, Jewish Agency Sokhnut’,” said Ekaterina Buravtsova, spokeswoman for the Basmany court in Moscow, quoted by Russian agencies.
Buravtsova said the request was made after legal violations, but did not provide further details, according to the Interfax news agency.
The judge said there would be a preliminary hearing to discuss the demand on 28 July, the spokeswoman said, without giving details.
Last week, the Russian justice ministry told the Ria-Novosti news agency that it carried out “document checks” with the non-profit organisation between 30 May and 27 June, but did not give any more information about the result of the checks.
The agency, established in 1929, played a key role in the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
That year, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their homes in what is known as the Nakba (Arabic for “catastrophe”).
The resultant refugee crisis continues to this day.
In response to news of the court filing, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai said: “Russian Jews will not be held hostage by the war in Ukraine. The attempt to punish the Jewish Agency for Israel’s stance on the war is deplorable and offensive.”
READ ALSO: Foreign forces must leave region – Advisor to Iran Leader
The Jerusalem Post reported on 5 July that Russian authorities suspected the Jewish Agency of illegally gathering data on Russian citizens, while also linking the move to tensions between Israel and Russia over Ukraine and Syria.
Israel, despite condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February, has also taken a cautious position, insisting on its ties with both Kyiv and Moscow.
Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticised Israel for not imposing sanctions on Russia.
Around 7,000 Jews immigrated to Israel from Russia last year, according to Israeli government data.
The Jewish Agency began working in Russia in 1989, two years before the end of the Soviet Union, after which hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the former USSR left for Israel.
More than a million Israeli citizens today are originally from the former Soviet Union.
