Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Belarus
Belarus: its Jewish community, emigration to "Israel" and the Lukashenko government's relations with "Israel"
Estimates of the Jewish population of Belarus range from about 14,000 to 60,000, according to the World Jewish Congress (WJC), which says that around 130,000 Belarusian citizens emigrated to "Israel" in the 1990s.[1] In October 2007 the Israeli foreign ministry summoned the Belarusian ambassador after President Alexander Lukashenko described the formerly Jewish town of Babruysk as a "pigsty".[2]
Jewish community
The Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations and Communities, 28 V. Khoruzhey Street, office 402, Minsk 220123, is the WJC's affiliate; it brings together about 100 Jewish organisations from nearly 20 cities. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee supports the union financially, and the WJC records 388 Belarusian Jews emigrating to "Israel" in 2023.[1]
Chabad
- Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch movement
The WJC notes that Chabad supports two Jewish high schools in Belarus, and that the Association of Religious Jewish Communities mainly unites representatives of the Chabad Lubavitch movement.[1]
History
According to the WJC, by 1897 many Belarusian cities, including Minsk, had Jewish majorities; at the end of the 19th century many Jews emigrated, and "many of those who remained became Zionists, while others joined the socialist Bund". Nearly 90% of the Jews of Belarus were murdered in the Holocaust; the largest ghetto was in Minsk. After the war a number of Jews emigrated to "Israel" and the United States.[1]
Israeli state and commercial ties
Diplomacy
The Israeli foreign ministry's 2011 list of missions records relations with Belarus as established in May 1992, with "Israel" represented by its embassy in Minsk.[3] The WJC says that the two countries established relations in 1992 and that in 2017 they held reciprocal cultural festivals for the 25th anniversary. The Israeli embassy is at 6a Partizansky Avenue, Minsk 220033.[1]
The 2007 Babruysk remarks
On 12 October 2007, speaking to Russian journalists on live national radio, Lukashenko said of Babruysk: "It was scary to enter, it was a pigsty. That was mainly a Jewish town – and you know how Jews treat the place where they are living. Look at Israel, I've been [there]." Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that "the role of leadership is to fight anti-Semitism wherever it raises its ugly head, all over the world, not to encourage it"; the ministry considered recalling its ambassador but instead summoned the Belarusian ambassador to register "strong condemnation".[2] The United States asked Lukashenko to retract the remarks, while the Belarusian embassy in "Israel" said that "Belarus and anti-Semitism are mutually exclusive things".[4]
Trade
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reports that "Israel" imported goods worth $58.1 million from Belarus in 2025 (2024: $35.1 million) and exported goods worth $16.8 million to it (2024: $16.6 million).[5]
Political interference
UN voting
Belarus voted in favour of the September 2025 General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.[6]
See also
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Moldova
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Russia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Ukraine
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 World Jewish Congress, Community in Belarus worldjewishcongress.org, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 RFE/RL, Belarus: Lukashenka comments draw accusations of anti-Semitism Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, October 2007, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011.
- ↑ RFE/RL, U.S. calls on Lukashenka to retract anti-Semitic remarks Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 24 October 2007, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy).
- ↑ United Nations General Assembly, Recorded vote on A/80/L.1/Rev.1: Endorsement of the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, 12 September 2025 (copy hosted by Al-Quds Al-Arabi).