The trial in Russia will open today: Will the Jewish Agency lose the right to operate in the country? | Israel today

The trial against the Jewish Agency in Russia will open this morning (Friday) in Moscow at 9:30.

The judge is expected to discuss claims by the Russian Ministry of Justice that the agency is illegally collecting information on Russian citizens.

If the agency is found guilty, it could lose the right to operate in Russia and be forced to close its operations there.

In Israel they claim that the information that the agency collects is trivial, and that these are phone numbers, email addresses and similar items of Jews who wish to immigrate to Israel or participate in the agency's activities.

An Israeli delegation that consisted mainly of lawyers and met with Russian Ministry of Justice officials proposed several technical solutions to ensure that the agency would meet all the requirements of Russian law, but did not receive a clear answer to its proposals.

The working assumption in Israel is that this is an initiated political crisis that can only be resolved at the highest levels, and not a legal crisis as the Russians claim.

The agency's activity in Russia has always received a critical look due to the claim that it encourages brain drain from the country, but it is not clear what caused the Russians to blow up the matter just now.

The offices of the Jewish Agency in Moscow, photo: E.P

The prevailing estimates are that this is due to dissatisfaction with Israel's position in relation to the war in Ukraine, displeasure with the scope of the IDF's activities in Syria, frustration with the delay in transferring the Alexander Court complex in Jerusalem to Russian ownership, or a combination of all or some of these factors.

A political official who spoke with Israel Hayom last week referred to the conversation held between President Yitzhak Herzog and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which the subject of the agency came up, and the statement the Russians issued after it.

The source said that "although it is still very early to determine how the crisis will end, the wording of the Kremlin's statement included non-trivial positive formulations."

Yair Lapid.

The crisis will be resolved at the highest levels, photo: Prime Minister's Office

The source meant the sympathetic mention of the Jews as an important part of the Russian heritage and culture, in addition to the mention of their part in the Red Army's victory over the Nazis in World War II.

"Against the background of the war in Ukraine, where Putin is trying to paint the other side as a neo-Nazi, it can be assumed that this mention is not accidental and that it has meaning, even though it cannot be determined right now that the crisis is on the way to a solution."

The source also said that from the point of view of the Russians, the very fact that President Herzog initiated a conversation with Putin when Moscow is diplomatically isolated almost all over the world is an achievement in itself, which is even stronger in light of the fact that the two leaders did not discuss the issue of the war with Ukraine during their conversation.

President Putin.

Will the instruction come from the Kremlin?, photo: E.

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In Israel it is believed that the judge's decision will not be determined in the courtroom, but in accordance with an order from above that will come from the Kremlin or another high-ranking authority.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid made it clear immediately after the outbreak of the crisis that the termination of the agency's activities in Russia would have consequences for relations with Israel, and instructed the Foreign Ministry to prepare a series of possible response measures.

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