Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Georgia
The ancient Georgian Jewish community and its aliyah, Israeli arms sales and military trainers before the 2008 war, the ministers Davit Kezerashvili and Temur Yakobashvili, Elbit's drones and lawsuit, free trade talks, and Israeli investment and property buying in Georgia
Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Georgia (the country in the Caucasus) rest on one of the oldest Jewish communities in the diaspora, most of whose members have moved to "Israel".[1] Before the 2008 war with Russia, Israeli companies sold Georgia drones, rockets and air defences, and retired Israeli generals trained its army. Two Georgian ministers of the time were Hebrew-speaking Jews with close ties to "Israel".[2] Since then the ties have been mainly commercial: talks on a free trade agreement, and rising Israeli investment and property buying.[3]
Jewish community and religious life
History
The World Jewish Congress traces the Jews of Georgia to about the sixth century BCE, when Jews fleeing Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Jerusalem reached the region, and says there is archaeological evidence of Jews at Mtskheta in the first centuries CE. In the Middle Ages Georgian Jews were classed as part of the "Kamani" serf class, and the Russian authorities abolished serfdom in Georgia between 1864 and 1871. The WJC describes Georgia as "an early center of Zionism": a Zionist organisation was formed there in 1897, and the first Congress of Caucasus Jews met in Tbilisi in 1901. Soviet rule shut down Zionist activity, and in the 1930s the authorities arrested and murdered many Jewish activists and Zionist leaders. Blood libels were recorded in Tskhaltubo, Zestafoni and Kutaisi in 1963–65.[1]
The community today
The WJC counted about 1,500 Jews in Georgia in 2023, most of them in Tbilisi, with smaller communities in Kutaisi, Batumi, Oni, Gori and other towns. There is no single umbrella body. The Jewish Community of Georgia is the WJC's affiliate, and the Rabbi of the Ashkenazi synagogue, Avi Melekh Rosenblatt, serves as Chief Rabbi. The Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) both run permanent operations. With JDC support, Hesed Eliyahu provides food and medical aid to elderly Jews. In 1994 President Eduard Shevardnadze issued a decree protecting Jewish monuments, and in 2001 the Georgian Orthodox Church and the Jewish community signed an agreement on mutual respect.[1] The Jewish community is one of four religious groups, besides the Georgian Orthodox Church, that receive state compensation for damage suffered under Soviet rule. The US State Department reports that it received 500,000 laris ($188,000) in 2023.[4]
How far is it Zionist? The Jewish Agency, whose job is to promote aliyah, operates permanently in Georgia, and the WJC stresses the community's historical role as an early centre of Zionism.[1] No source reviewed describes the Jewish Community of Georgia lobbying on Israeli policy.
Chabad
The WJC reports that Chabad runs a kindergarten, Tifferet Zvi, and a Jewish high school in Tbilisi.[1]
- Main article: Chabad Lubavitch of Georgia
Georgia is not covered by the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, which lists no rabbi there.[5]
Zionist movement and advocacy
The WJC dates organised Zionism in Georgia to 1897, and says Georgian Jews began settling in Palestine in 1863; by 1916, 439 lived there.[1] No current Zionist organisation operating in Georgia was found apart from the Jewish Agency (see above).
Israeli state and commercial ties
Arms sales before 2008
The Forward reported in 2008 that "Israel" had sold Georgia an estimated $300 million of weapons since 2000. "Israel" refused tanks, planes and missiles but allowed infantry weapons, rockets, night-vision communications, the upgrade of Georgia's Su-25 jets, and Skylark and Hermes 450 drones.[2] The SIPRI register records two Aerostar drones (2005), four LAR-160 rocket launchers (2007), five Hermes-450 drones (2007), a SPYDER-SR air defence system with 75 Python-5 missiles (2008) and 13 Wolf armoured vehicles (ordered 2008, delivered 2009).[6] Wired, citing Ynet, reported that the former Israeli minister Roni Milo "conducted business in Georgia for Elbit Systems".[7]
On 20 April 2008 one of Georgia's Israeli-made Hermes 450 drones was shot down off Abkhazia. A UN probe supported Georgia's charge that Russia had downed it. Russia wrote to the Israeli foreign minister asking it to stop supplying Georgia. According to Ma'ariv, the Israeli Foreign Ministry then asked the Defence Ministry to allow only defensive weapons and training. Israeli officials said they had vetoed a Georgian request for 200 Merkava tanks.[2]
Israeli military trainers
According to The Forward, the retired brigadier general Gal Hirsch set up a company, Defense Shields, and received Israeli Defence Ministry approval to train elite anti-terrorist units in the Georgian army. He worked with Global CST, owned by the retired major general Israel Ziv, and Nirtal, headed by Nir Shaul. The companies announced that they had completed their projects in Georgia before fighting began on 7 August 2008.[2] After the war began, President Mikheil Saakashvili said "Israeli weapons have been very effective".[2]
Kezerashvili and Yakobashvili
The defence minister, Davit Kezerashvili, and the reintegration minister, Temur Yakobashvili, are Jewish and fluent in Hebrew, and The Forward says they facilitated the arms trade.[2] Wired, citing Ynet, described Kezerashvili as "a former Israeli" and quoted a source saying "His door was always open to the Israelis who came and offered his country arms systems made in Israel".[7] Yakobashvili told Israel Army Radio that "Israel should be proud of its military, which trained Georgian soldiers".[2] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency quoted Saakashvili: "We have two Israeli cabinet ministers, one deals with war and the other with negotiations ... Both war and peace are in the hands of Israeli Jews." It noted that only Kezerashvili held Israeli citizenship.[8]
Elbit and the drone lawsuit
In April 2011 Elbit Systems sued the Georgian government in the High Court in London for about $100 million, saying it had not paid amounts due under contracts.[9] In December 2011 Georgia agreed to pay $35 million to settle. Eurasianet said the dispute appeared to concern equipment bought in 2007, possibly including 40 Hermes 450 drones.[10] Civil Georgia reported that the deal settled "all claims and disputes".[11]
Free trade agreement
Georgia's economy ministry said that on 1 May 2023 the two countries signed a joint declaration concluding a feasibility study on a free trade agreement, with negotiations to begin in 2024.[12] The Asian Development Bank's trade database lists negotiations as launched in 2024.[13] In December 2025 Georgia Today reported that negotiations with "Israel" were planned for 2026. No agreement had been signed by then.[14]
Trade and investment
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics records Israeli exports to Georgia of $32.3 million in 2022, $35.8 million in 2023, $55.2 million in 2024 and $82.8 million in 2025, and imports of $27.7 million, $23.6 million, $39.6 million and $57.0 million.[15] The National Statistics Office of Georgia records foreign direct investment from "Israel" rising from $25.3 million in 2023 and $59.8 million in 2024 to $145.1 million in 2025, 7.6% of the total.[3] According to a Galt & Taggart report for August 2025, buyers from "Israel" accounted for 12% of new-apartment sales in Tbilisi, nearly half of all foreign purchases.[16]
Intelligence and spyware
No source reviewed links Israeli spyware to Georgia, and Citizen Lab's 2018 survey of NSO Group's Pegasus does not list Georgia.[17]
Migration and aliyah
According to the WJC, Georgian Jews asked to emigrate after the 1967 war. When they were refused, several families wrote to the UN Human Rights Commission, and "a flurry of activity by the Israeli government and the Jewish world" led the Soviet authorities to ease their policies. Almost 30,000 Georgian Jews made aliyah in the 1970s, and several thousand more left for "Israel" after independence in 1991.[1] The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics records 75 Georgian-born immigrants in 2021, 184 in 2022 and 87 in 2023, when 373 immigrants gave Georgia as their last country of residence.[18]
Political interference
Saakashvili's government relied on Israeli trainers and on ministers with close Israeli ties during the 2008 war. Russia formally protested to "Israel" over its arms supplies.[2][8] No source reviewed documents Israeli interference in Georgian domestic politics beyond this.
Jeffrey Epstein
In March 2010 the office of the investor Henry Jarecki at the Falconwood Corporation forwarded to Jeffrey Epstein an invitation to a meeting with Kakha Bendukidze, the founder of the Free University of Tbilisi, asking what he thought. The records reviewed do not show whether Epstein attended.[19]
Ehud Barak's leaked emails
The following items come from Barak's two leaked mailboxes (ehbarak1@gmail.com and ehud.barak@hyperion-eb.com, 2007–2016). They were hacked and leaked by Handala, a group that Distributed Denial of Secrets describes as "believed to have ties to Iranian intelligence", and were published by Distributed Denial of Secrets in August 2025. The emails carry no cryptographic signatures, and Distributed Denial of Secrets warns that material from such hack-and-leak operations may have been altered.[20] On 10 March 2013, while still Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak wrote to the Georgian foreign minister, Maia Panjikidze, thanking her for her "swift response". He proposed dates for a visit and said he was "deeply interested in meeting with you again, as well as with Prime Minister Ivanishvili".[21] His office then received a letter about a "Visit to Tbilisi, Georgia".[22]
See also
- Chabad Lubavitch of Georgia
- Chabad-Lubavitch in West Asia
- Zionist movement
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Azerbaijan
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Armenia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Turkey
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 World Jewish Congress, Community in Georgia World Jewish Congress, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 The Forward, Israel's Military on Display in Georgia The Forward, 12 September 2008.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 National Statistics Office of Georgia, Foreign Direct Investments in 2025 (Adjusted) Geostat, 17 August 2026.
- ↑ US Department of State, 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Georgia US Department of State, 2024.
- ↑ Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, The Rabbis rabbisalliance.org, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database, trade registers, Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, generated 20 October 2026 (library copy).
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Wired, How Israel Trained and Equipped Georgia's Army Wired, 19 August 2008.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Georgia war requires balancing in Israel JTA, 22 August 2008.
- ↑ Joshua Kucera, Israeli Defense Contractor Sues Georgia, Says Tbilisi Never Paid for Drones Eurasianet, 8 April 2011.
- ↑ Joshua Kucera, With Drone Lawsuit Settled, Are Georgian-Israeli Relations Back On Track? Eurasianet, 30 December 2011.
- ↑ Civil Georgia, Elbit Systems Says Dispute Settled with Georgia Civil Georgia, 2 January 2012.
- ↑ Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Levan Davitashvili Met with Minister of Transport and Road Safety of Israel, Miri Regev economy.ge, 3 July 2023.
- ↑ Asian Development Bank, Georgia-Israel Free Trade Agreement Asia Regional Integration Center, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Georgia Today, Georgia expands free trade network as export growth exceeds targets Georgia Today, 30 December 2025.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy).
- ↑ International Investment, Israelis Lead Foreign Homebuying in Tbilisi as Investment Demand Surges internationalinvestment.biz, 29 September 2025.
- ↑ Citizen Lab, Hide and Seek: Tracking NSO Group's Pegasus Spyware to Operations in 45 Countries The Citizen Lab, 18 September 2018.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Statistical Abstract of Israel 2024, Table 2.55: Immigrants, by period of immigration, country of birth and last country of residence CBS, 2024.
- ↑ Email to Jeffrey Epstein, "FW: Georgian guy", 30 March 2010, US Department of Justice Epstein files release, Data Set 11, EFTA02427738 (mirror), accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Distributed Denial of Secrets, Ehud Barak emails, 27 August 2025, with download at data.ddosecrets.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
- ↑ Email from Ehud Barak, "Letter to MoFA Panjikidze", 10 March 2013, file
ehbarak1@gmail.com/Sent!18/1 (246).html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 21 October 2026. - ↑ Email from Nili Priell to Ehud Barak, "Fwd: Visit to Tbilisi, Georgia", 14 March 2013, file
ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!48/1 (245).html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 21 October 2026.