An Israeli official talks to Yedioth Ahronoth about the possible Israeli occupation move if Russia closes the offices of the Jewish Agency.
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An Israeli official regarding the Jewish Agency in Moscow: We will not be silent.. We are in a battle
Israeli media quoted a “senior Israeli official”, commenting on Russia’s decision to close the offices of the Jewish Agency, and said that “if the offices of the Jewish Agency were already closed, the Israeli ambassador should be summoned from Moscow for consultations.”
“We are in a battle here, this is not related to closing McDonald’s,” the official added in an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth, noting that “closing the agency under a legal cover is a political issue – and we will not remain silent about it.”
Earlier today, he confirmed Prime Minister of the Israeli occupation government Yair Lapid said that “the closure of the Jewish Agency office in Russia would represent a dangerous event” that would “affect relations with Moscow.”
Lapid also gave directions to “prepare a legal team to be ready to travel to Moscow, as soon as Russia agrees to hold talks in this regard,” according to Bloomberg Agency.
Lapid’s statements come after Meeting Between the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and the Special Envoy of the Russian President to the Middle East Mikhail Bogdanov and the Israeli Ambassador to Moscow Alexander Ben-Zvi, a number of urgent issues on the bilateral agenda were discussed in detail.
The Russian Ministry of Justice planned to dissolve the agency, after filing a lawsuit before the Basmani District Court in Moscow against the organization, which supports Jewish immigrants to the occupied Palestinian territories, and a hearing will be held on July 28.
An Israeli newspaper had revealed, in early July, that The Russian government sent a message toTo the Jewish Agency, asking the latter to stop all its operations in the country, considering that “the Russian decision could undermine the ability of Russian Jews to emigrate.”
On July 15, I reported Israeli media Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new Russian law to “paralyze Jewish and Israeli organizations,” commenting that “the fear is that (…) the new law will create an impossible situation for Jewish and Israeli organizations to operate in Russia.”
Israeli media spoke There is “great tension between Russia and Israel”, against the backdrop of reports from Moscow that the Jewish Agency has been suspended.
The court in Moscow had received an administrative lawsuit from the main department of the Russian Ministry of Justice regarding the “liquidation and exclusion of the Jewish organization from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities of the Independent Non-Profit Organization,” so that the judge set the hearing in this lawsuit on July 28.
In response to a question by the Russian “Interfax” agency, the court clarified that “the lawsuit of the Ministry of Justice relates to the agency’s violation of Russian law in the course of its activities.”
It is noteworthy that the “Jewish Agency of Israel” (Sakhnot), is an organization concerned with ensuring relations between Jews around the world and issues of Jewish immigration to the occupied Palestinian territories. Founded in 1929, representative offices of the Jewish Agency have been operating in Russia since 1989.