Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Lithuania
Lithuania: its Jewish community, Israeli arms purchases and the Kantor entry ban
About 2,400 Jews lived in Lithuania in 2023, according to the World Jewish Congress (WJC).[1] Lithuania bars Viatcheslav Kantor, a former president of the European Jewish Congress, from entering the country until 7 April 2030.[2]
Jewish community
The WJC notes that many Jews worldwide, known as "Litvaks", trace their ancestry to Lithuania. Most Lithuanian Jews live in Vilnius, with communities in Kaunas, Klaipėda and Šiauliai. The Jewish Community of Lithuania is the umbrella body and the WJC's affiliate; its Vilnius building houses the Israel Center of Culture and Arts.[1]
Chabad
- Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch movement
The WJC notes a Chabad house in Vilnius with its own rabbi.[1]
Israeli state and commercial ties
Diplomacy
The Israeli foreign ministry's 2011 list of missions records relations with Lithuania as established in January 1992, with "Israel" represented by its ambassador in Latvia.[3] The WJC says that "Israel" recognised Lithuanian independence in 1991; the Israeli embassy is now at Konstitucijos pr. 7, Vilnius.[1]
Arms trade
SIPRI records Lithuanian orders for Samson RCWS-30 turrets for 86 Boxer infantry fighting vehicles from Germany (2016) and 27 more (2022); Spike anti-tank missiles for the Boxers; CARDOM 120mm mortars to modernise M-106 self-propelled mortars; and, in 2025, 25 Spike-NLOS missiles for Watercat missile boats from Finland.[4]
Trade
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reports that "Israel" imported goods worth $136.8 million from Lithuania in 2025 (2024: $122.1 million) and exported goods worth $82.0 million to it (2024: $113.2 million).[5]
Political interference
Viatcheslav Kantor entry ban
OpenSanctions records Viatcheslav Kantor, whose citizenships it lists as Russian, Israeli and British, on the Lithuanian Migration Department's list of persons designated under the Magnitsky amendments, with an entry ban running from 1 January 2018 to 7 April 2030. The list covers foreign individuals involved in "gross human rights violations, money laundering, and corruption". OpenSanctions also cites a description of Kantor as "President of the European Jewish Congress".[2]
UN voting
Lithuania voted in favour of the September 2025 General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.[6]
Ehud Barak emails
The following items come from the two leaked mailboxes of the former Israeli prime minister and defence minister Ehud Barak (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.[7]
- On 25 January 2015 Barak sent his biographer Edward Temko a link to a JewishGen Yizkor (memorial) book page, under the subject line "My paternal GP murder story Pusalotas (Pushelat), Lithuania".[8]
- On 19 April 2016 a message was forwarded to Barak saying that Ivan Glasenberg sent his best wishes and, "Remembering that Ehud Barak's family is also from Lithuania", suggested that Barak see www.lostshtetl.com, "a Lithuanian Jewry heritage project that Ivan has undertaken".[9]
See also
- Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Denmark
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Finland
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Norway
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Sweden
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Estonia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Latvia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Iceland
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 World Jewish Congress, Community in Lithuania worldjewishcongress.org, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 OpenSanctions, Dr Viatcheslav Kantor opensanctions.org, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011.
- ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, trade register for Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, data generated 20 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).
- ↑ Distributed Denial of Secrets, Ehud Barak emails, 27 August 2025, with download at data.ddosecrets.org, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Email from Ehud Barak to Edward Temko, "My paternal GP murder story Pusalotas (Pushelat), Lithuania", 25 January 2015, file
ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!22/1 (480).html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 25 October 2026. - ↑ Email from Meir Barel to Ehud Barak, "FW: Regards to Ehud Barak", 19 April 2016, file
ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!1/0000000837-FW_ Regards to Ehud Barak.html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 25 October 2026.