Russia’s justice ministry has gone to court in a bid to shut down the Russian branch of the Jewish Agency, which organists Jewish immigration to ‘Israel’.
The case at Moscow’s Basmanny District Court concerns legal breaches. A hearing is set for 28 July.
An Israeli minister condemned the court case, seeing it as punishment for Israel’s stance on the Ukraine war.
Nachman Shai, Israel’s diaspora affairs minister, said “Russian Jews will not be held hostage by the war in Ukraine” and “the attempt to punish the Jewish Agency for Israel’s position on the war is pathetic and insulting”.
In April Russia protested after then Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid – now interim prime minister – accused Russia of war crimes. Lapid defended Israel’s vote to suspend Russia from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Zionist anaylsts considered that the Russian stance comes in protest of the repeated Zionst attacks on Syria.
The souring of relations comes after a period of relatively close ties between Israel and Russia.
Source: Websites
