Barring a dramatic turn of events, it would take a miracle to prevent Russia from shuttering the Jewish Agency's operations on its soil.
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Israel may delude itself otherwise, but the Russian effort to curb aliyah to Israel is well on its way and the order came from the highest office in the land. This is not the whim of s junior functionary – this is an official Russian initiative directed by the Kremlin and fueled by its economic worldview.
For the two decades of his rule, Russian President Vladimir Putin has pursued one goal: to regain his country's superpower status and to challenge the world order that took shape following the defeat of the USSR in the Cold War.
Everything has been directed at this objective and all means were made available toward this goal. Russia's rich energy sources were exported to the West in order to make it dependent on Russia; the generous revenues from the sale of oil and gas were channeled into the accumulation of military power, and in part were funneled to the public's benefit, so that the gradual denial of freedoms would pass without mass protests.
Now, after 20 years of careful preparations, Putin decided that the conditions for the great clash of civilizations were right. With the ascension to power of Western European leaders he saw as weak – including US President Joe Biden – he gave the order and the Russian army to invade Ukraine in an attempt to quickly topple the Kyiv regime and forge ahead, westward.
For all its brutality, the ongoing war in Ukraine is only the tip of the iceberg. The tremendous changes brewing underneath did not really interest the public in the free world – on in Israel – as long as they did not have a direct impact on us, for example in the area of immigration.
These changes are increasingly turning Russia into a mobilized dictatorship reminiscent of the Soviet Union era. As such, the fall of a new iron curtain is only a matter of time.
A dictatorship cannot allow organizations like the Jewish Agency to operate freely on its soil. Its internal logic demands the extermination of every vestige of freedom, especially if this freedom seeks to shape a Jewish identity or promote leaving Russia for Israel. What we see as making aliyah to the Jewish homeland, is perceived by Putin as a plot seeking to pilfer human capital – engineers, software developers, entrepreneurs, and future soldiers – from his country
The Jewish Agency will not be the only Jewish organization required to stop its operations in Russia. It will be followed by the shuttering of other organizations and probably Israeli cultural centers, which are engaged in spreading information about Israel and teaching Hebrew.
This, however, is just the prelude. By choosing a confrontation with the free world, Putin set his country on the path of escalation with Israel, and en route to the inevitable conflict, most of the achievements built with great effort over 30 years of diplomatic relations, will probably be gradually undone.
It would take a miracle to stop it – if the Russians come to their senses and refrain from further escalation until a new government is established, perhaps it will still be able to undo this evil decree.
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