Russia’s Justice Ministry has ordered the liquidation of the Russian branch of the Jewish Agency, a non-profit organization that promotes immigration to Israel, according to a Moscow court. The website of the Basmanny district court said the ministry submitted the request on July 15 and it will be heard on July 28. “The court received an administrative complaint from the main department of the Ministry of Justice requesting the dissolution … of the organization ‘Support for ties with the Jewish diaspora, Sokhnut Jewish Agency,’” said Ekaterina Buravtsova, a spokeswoman for the Basmany court in Moscow, according to Russian agencies on Thursday. Buravtsova said the request was made after legal violations, but gave no further details, according to the Interfax news agency. Last week, Russia’s Justice Ministry told state news agency Ria Novosti that it conducted “document checks” with the non-profit organization between May 30 and June 27, but gave no further information on the outcome of the checks. The move against the Jerusalem-based organization, the world’s largest Jewish nonprofit, follows Israel’s criticism of Russia’s war in Ukraine, with then-Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid accusing it in April of committing war crimes. Moscow has repeatedly denied the atrocities and said it is not going after civilians, although thousands have been killed in nearly five months of war. “Russian Jews will not be held hostage to the war in Ukraine. The attempt to punish the Jewish Agency for Israel’s stance in the war is deplorable and insulting,” Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai said in response to news of the court filing. The Jerusalem Post reported on July 5 that Russian authorities suspected the Jewish Agency of illegally collecting data on Russian citizens, and also linked the move to tensions between Israel and Russia over Ukraine and Syria. About 7,000 Jews immigrated from Russia to Israel last year, according to Israeli government figures. Although Israel has not sent military aid to Ukraine, it has condemned Russia’s invasion of its neighbor. Traditionally strong relations with Moscow soured in May after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Adolf Hitler was of Jewish descent, angering Israel. The organization, founded in 1929, played a key role in the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. He 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 USSR left for Israel. More than one million Israeli citizens today are of Soviet Union descent.
