Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Ukraine
Ukraine: its Jewish community, the Uman pilgrimage, emigration to "Israel" and the arms debate
In 2023 Ukraine was home to 45,000 Jews, the fourth-largest Jewish community in Europe, according to the World Jewish Congress (WJC).[1] On 20 March 2022 President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, told the Knesset by video link: "One can keep asking why we can't get weapons from you. Or why Israel has not imposed strong sanctions against Russia."[2]
Jewish community
The Jewish Confederation of Ukraine and the Va'ad (Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine), 8/5 Voloska Street, Kyiv 04070, are the WJC's affiliates; the community includes "various Zionist organizations" and offices of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Claims Conference and Hillel.[1]
Chabad
- Main article: Chabad-Lubavitch movement
The WJC says that Chabad Lubavitch is the largest Orthodox umbrella, with 123 registered communities.[1] The Menorah Centre in Dnipro, headquarters of the Chabad-led Jewish community of the city, was funded largely by the businessmen Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov;[3] The Times of Israel has described Kolomoisky, an Israeli-Ukrainian citizen, as "a major funder of Jewish causes and the Chabad movement in Ukraine".[4] In September 2023 Zelensky met Chabad rabbis for the first time ahead of Rosh Hashanah.[5]
Uman pilgrimage
- Main article: Uman
In his Knesset address Zelensky described Uman as "a city visited by tens of thousands of Israelis every year" for pilgrimage to the tomb of Nachman of Breslov, and said that it had been hit by Russian projectiles on the first day of the war.[2] In September 2020 the Israeli government told Hasidic pilgrims on the Ukrainian border to go home after talks over access to Uman failed.[6] In 2022 the Israeli government warned against travel to Uman,[7] but more than 20,000 pilgrims came.[8]
History
According to the WJC, "many of the most important Jewish thinkers and Zionists of the modern age were born in Ukraine". From the 1960s Jewish dissidents who wanted to emigrate to "Israel" found common cause with Ukrainian dissidents. Mass emigration to "Israel" and the United States began in the late 1980s and grew after 1991. About 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, including 33,771 at Babi Yar on 29–30 September 1941.[1]
Israeli state and commercial ties
Diplomacy
The Israeli foreign ministry's 2011 list of missions records relations with Ukraine as established in December 1991, with "Israel" represented by its embassy in Kyiv.[9] The WJC says that the two countries established relations in 1991 and have a visa-free travel agreement. The Israeli embassy is at 34 Lesia Ukrainka Boulevard, Kyiv 01901.[1]
Arms debate
In his Knesset address of 20 March 2022, Zelensky said: "Everyone in Israel knows that your missile defense is the best", and argued that mediation "can be between states, not between good and evil".[2] The Jerusalem Post reported that he asked for the Iron Dome system and criticised Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who was mediating between him and Putin; sources close to Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that mediation would continue and that "Israel" would not provide weapons to Ukraine.[10]
Trade
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reports that "Israel" imported goods worth $130.3 million from Ukraine in 2025 (2024: $113.6 million) and exported goods worth $102.5 million to it (2024: $169.3 million).[11]
Political interference
UN voting
Ukraine voted in favour of the September 2025 General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.[12]
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.[13]
- On 7 November 2014 Justin Mondshine, writing from a PointState address, asked Barak whether Putin would attack Mariupol. Barak replied: "It won't happen tonight. A sensitive situation is developing. Brinkmanship on both sides. VP would prefer not to do it. But cannot afford appearing as as swaying under pressure."[14]
Jeffrey Epstein
Documents released by the US Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein files include the following.
- On 21 February 2014 Epstein emailed Barak: "with civil unrest exploding in ukraine syria, somolia, libya, and the desperation of those in power, isn't this perfect for you".[15]
See also
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Belarus
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Moldova
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Russia
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 World Jewish Congress, Community in Ukraine worldjewishcongress.org, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Office of the President of Ukraine, Speech by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Knesset president.gov.ua, 20 March 2022, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Cnaan Liphshiz, "Giant Ukraine JCC provides shelter from the storm – in style", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 1 October 2014.
- ↑ "Kyiv court orders detention of Israeli-Ukrainian oligarch on corruption charges", The Times of Israel, 2 September 2023.
- ↑ Jackie Hajdenberg, "In a first, Volodymyr Zelensky met with Chabad rabbis ahead of Rosh Hashanah", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 15 September 2023.
- ↑ "Israel tells Hasidic pilgrims on Ukraine border to go home, as Uman talks fail", ToI Staff and agencies, The Times of Israel, 17 September 2020.
- ↑ Ash Obel, "Deadly danger: Israel warns against travel to Ukraine's Uman as pilgrimage nears", The Times of Israel, 1 September 2022.
- ↑ Hanna Arhirova (AP), "'It doesn't scare us': Over 20,000 pilgrims flock to Ukraine's Uman despite war", The Times of Israel, 25 September 2022.
- ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011.
- ↑ Gil Hoffman, 'Why won't Israel give Ukraine weapons?' Volodymyr Zelensky criticizes Knesset The Jerusalem Post, 20 March 2022, 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).
- ↑ Distributed Denial of Secrets, Ehud Barak emails, 27 August 2025, with download at data.ddosecrets.org, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Email exchange between Justin Mondshine and Ehud Barak, "Re: The Scowcroft Group -- Ukraine: Mariupol Attack Would Signal Complete Breakdown of Ceasefire, with New Sanctions Likely", 6–7 November 2014, file
ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!27/1 (59).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 Jeffrey Epstein to Ehud Barak, 21 February 2014, EFTA01933670, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 10, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 25 October 2026.