Zionist movement Belarus
The organised Zionist movement in Belarus: a federation whose election committee is the board of the Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations and Communities, its single 2025 Congress mandate, national institutions, aliyah and links to "Israel"
The Zionist movement in Belarus is organised through the Zionist Federation of Belarus, which the World Zionist Organization (WZO) lists under that name with Oleg Rogatnikov as contact person.[1][2] The federation's own rules give its name as the "Federation of Zionist Organizations of the Republic of Belarus" and define it as a voluntary association of the public associations that belong to the Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations and Communities (UBJOC), of registered religious Jewish associations, and of individual residents.[3] The WZO publishes UBJOC's own charter as "The Belarus Federation's Constitution", and the UBJOC board's minutes say that "UBJOC is part of the Federation of Zionist Organizations of the Republic of Belarus".[4][5] Rogatnikov is UBJOC's chairman, the federation's contact person and its sole delegate.[6][7] Belarus had one mandate at the 39th World Zionist Congress in 2025, held by Yisrael Beiteinu World; it has no entry in the WZO's results table for the 38th Congress in 2020.[8][9] The World Jewish Congress (WJC) names UBJOC as its Belarusian affiliate.[6] The Jewish Agency for Israel lists a Minsk office, while Keren Hayesod, KKL-JNF and WIZO show no Belarusian office or federation (see below).[10] Israel.com records 470 immigrants from Belarus to "Israel" in 2025.[11] The population figures conflict. Sergio DellaPergola put Belarus's core Jewish population at 6,000 (the 32nd largest in the world), rising to 14,000 if people with a Jewish parent are counted, 22,000 in an "enlarged" definition and 30,000 for those eligible under the Law of Return.[12] The WJC cites "a recent study" giving "around 14,000 to 60,000".[6]
History
The union and the federation
UBJOC says it was founded in April 1991. Its Russian-language "About us" page lists "establishing direct links with public organisations of the State of Israel and other countries" among its tasks, and "Monitoring of antisemitism" among its directions of work. It says UBJOC is a member of the Coordinating Council on the Rights of National Minorities under the Council of Ministers and part of the Republican Centre of National Cultures, and names Rogatnikov (chairman), Elena Kulevnich (deputy chairman) and Kristina Bezdezhskaya (deputy chairman) as its staff.[13] The English translation of the charter that the WZO publishes, certified with Rogatnikov's signature and the UBJOC seal, describes UBJOC as a voluntary association of Jewish public associations "of a national, cultural, educational and charitable nature". It lists "revival and consolidation of Jews in the Republic of Belarus", charity and "establishing direct links with public organizations of the State of Israel and other countries" among its objectives, and does not mention Zionism or the WZO.[4]
The Zionist provisions come from a separate document. At a board meeting on 2 June 2023, with thirteen board members present including Rogatnikov, Grigory Levin, Kulevnich, Bezdezhskaya and Oleg Babayev, UBJOC adopted unanimously twelve "additional amendments to the Constitution". They provide for cooperation with the WZO and with Zionist organisations abroad, including a membership due, the "Zionist Shekel", of "at least 100 MDL" (MDL is the ISO code for the Moldovan leu); admission of "any Zionist body affiliated with WZO"; acceptance of the Jerusalem Program; "Contribution to Aliah of the Jewish people of Belarus"; "Protection of the Jewish constitutional rights on the basis of cooperation with international institutions and the State of Israel"; and "unification of the Jewish people and Jewish community while accepting the leading role of Israel".[14]
The federation's rules, dated 28 February 2025 and approved by the UBJOC board on 1 March 2025, say the federation "is part of the World Zionist Organization". They make UBJOC's board the area election committee, bar candidates who "do not recognize the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic State", and require a candidate to have proved to the federation that he or she has fulfilled "obligations to Keren Hayesod – the United Israeli Appeal or the United Jewish Appeal in the USA and to the KKL".[3]
2020 World Zionist Congress election
Belarus has no entry in the WZO's results table for the 38th Congress.[9] The Zionist Supreme Court's ruling in File 018/2020 of 1 October 2020, which tabulates the federations' elections by area, does not name Belarus either.[15] No source consulted shows whether a Belarusian federation took part in 2020.
2025 World Zionist Congress election
The WZO's Belarus page for the 39th Congress links the federation's "constitution" (UBJOC's charter), a "General Assembly" document (the 2023 board minutes above), two documents headed "Rules of Election" (the board minutes of 1 March 2025) and "Rules of Election 2" (the rules of 28 February 2025), "Election Results" in English and Russian, and a photograph headed "Puclic Announcenent" (sic).[2]
The UBJOC board met online on Zoom on 1 March 2025, with Rogatnikov in the chair and Maria Shlyakhtina as secretary, and ten board members present. Rogatnikov told it that "UBJOC is part of the Federation of Zionist Organizations of the Republic of Belarus" and that the main agenda was approving the election rules. Kulevnich said the rules had been drafted by a freelance lawyer and that the board would serve as the election committee. The board voted 10–0 for the rules, 10–0 to circulate them to member associations by email, and 10–0 for a list proposed by Babayev: Rogatnikov as the main candidate and Kulevnich and Bezdezhskaya as his alternates. The minutes record Kulevnich saying that member associations could back that list "or nominate their own according to the rules".[5]
The English minutes of 17 May 2025 name Babayev as chairman of the "Electoral Commission" and Shlyakhtina as secretary, and say the meeting was online on Zoom. In them Babayev says that, as no other candidates were presented and "in accordance with Article 20 of the Charter of the World Zionist Organization there is no need for elections", the delegates elected Rogatnikov as the main candidate and Kulevnich and Bezdezhskaya as his deputies.[16] The Russian text of the same minutes has two header blocks: "Chairman – O.L. Rogatnikov; Secretary – M.V. Shlyakhtina; form of meeting: offline", followed by "Chairman of the Electoral Commission – Babayev O.R.; Secretary – Shlyakhtina M.V.; form of meeting: online, on the Zoom platform". It is signed by Babayev.[17] The photograph on the WZO page shows a printed extract from the minutes of 17 May 2025 pinned to a noticeboard, giving Rogatnikov as chairman, Shlyakhtina as secretary and the form as "offline", and naming the same three people.[18] The WZO's pages therefore give both "online" and "offline" for the same meeting, and two different chairmen.
The WZO's results table gives Belarus one mandate, held by Yisrael Beiteinu World,[8] and its delegates list names one person under Belarus:[7]
| Name | World union or faction (WZO listing) |
|---|---|
| Oleg Rogatnikov | Yisrael Beiteinu World (including Yisrael Beiteinu and the American Forum for Israel) |
No source consulted explains how the federation came to hold its seat for Yisrael Beiteinu World. In his nomination for the World Jewish Congress, Rogatnikov lists as a goal to "Advocate for Israel, Jewish rights and combat antisemitism".[19]
National institutions
| National institution | Belarusian affiliate or presence |
|---|---|
| World Zionist Organization | Zionist Federation of Belarus, whose election committee is the UBJOC board; see above. The WZO gives a contact person and an email address but no telephone number or website.[2] |
| Jewish Agency for Israel | The Jewish Agency's Russian-language office list gives a Minsk office with two telephone numbers and the email address minsk@jafi.org.[10] UBJOC's September 2025 coordinating council named Ilana Lomkin as "Head of the Jewish Agency for Israel in the Republic of Belarus, head of the CIS repatriation department".[20] The WJC says UBJOC and the Jewish Agency run 13 Jewish Sunday schools with about 500 pupils.[6] |
| Keren Hayesod | The organisation's list of affiliates has no Belarus entry.[21] The federation's rules nevertheless require a delegate to have proved that obligations to Keren Hayesod or the United Jewish Appeal were met.[3] |
| Jewish National Fund | KKL-JNF's list of offices worldwide has no Belarus entry.[22] The federation's rules refer to obligations to "the KKL".[3] |
| Women's International Zionist Organization | No WIZO federation in Belarus was found. |
Major Zionist and Jewish communal organisations
- Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations and Communities (UBJOC; Союз белорусских еврейских общественных объединений и общин). The main communal body and the WJC affiliate, at 28 V. Khoruzhey Street, Minsk. The WJC says it comprises "about 100 Jewish organizations from nearly 20 Belarusian cities", and that of more than 70 religious and non-religious communities in Belarus, 34 are UBJOC members; at its September 2025 council in Vitebsk, UBJOC itself described the participants as leaders of 32 communities from 17 cities.[6][20] The WJC says the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) funds it, and that it runs the Museum of History and Culture of the Jews of Belarus and publishes the monthly Aviv.[6] Its thirteenth congress met on 6–8 September 2024 and re-elected Rogatnikov chairman for three years.[23]
- Oleg Rogatnikov. The WJC's nomination page says he was born on 31 July 1975, qualified in urology at Vitebsk State Medical University in 2001, directs a clinic and an association of independent pharmacies, has chaired UBJOC since 2021, and sits on the Republican Multicultural Interfaith Commission and the Republican Humanitarian Aid Department.[19] He took part in President Alexander Lukashenko's meeting with representatives of Belarus's nationalities on 12 September 2024.[23]
- Ilana Lomkin, Iris Zweig and Paula Lam Haim. UBJOC thanked these three as guests at its September 2025 council in Vitebsk: Lomkin of the Jewish Agency (above), Zweig as director of the Israeli cultural centre "Nativ" in Minsk, and Lam Haim as head of the JDC ("Joint") mission in Belarus.[20] See Nativ.
- Hillel, Maccabi and Limmud. The WJC says Hillel has operated in Minsk since 1997, Maccabi is active, and the Limmud festival of Jewish education has been held annually since 2014.[6]
Youth, education and aliyah
The WJC describes a summer-camp system and weekly youth programmes, with youth clubs in Gomel, Bobruisk, Grodno and Vitebsk, and says Hillel, the Jewish Agency ("the Sochnut") and UBJOC organised "Student Expeditions to Jewish Sites in Belarus" from 2005, which it says involved about 300 young people from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.[6] It also says the Orthodox Union supports Bnei Akiva schools in Minsk.[6] No source consulted shows a Belarusian branch of a Zionist youth movement other than these.
Israel.com's compilation of aliyah data gives 10,809 immigrants from Belarus between 2015 and 2025: 338 (2015), 668 (2016), 977 (2017), 976 (2018), 943 (2019), 639 (2020), 1,046 (2021), 2,228 (2022), 1,788 (2023), 736 (2024) and 470 (2025).[11] It says 1,367 registered in "Haifa", 739 in "Bat Yam" and 721 in "Netanya", and that 22 per cent arrived as children.[24] The figures conflict with other sources. DellaPergola gives 1,013 for 2021 and 2,206 for 2022,[12] and the WJC says 388 Belarusian Jews made aliyah in 2023, "an increase of 229%", against Israel.com's 1,788.[6] Those who settle there do so as settler colonists in occupied Palestine.
Antisemitism organisations
UBJOC lists the monitoring of antisemitism among its areas of work, but no published monitoring report was found.[13] The WJC says antisemitism "continues to be somewhat widespread, if not latent" and that the government "has taken a generally indifferent position on such incidents"; the page is undated.[6] The European Jewish Congress reported on 15 March 2021 that antisemitic graffiti had been sprayed on a Jewish community centre building in Gomel.[25] JTA reported on 6 July 2021 that Lukashenko, in a speech at the Mound of Glory memorial near Minsk on 3 July, said "The Jews were able to prove it. The whole world today bows before them, they are even afraid to point a finger at them", while calling for Belarus to investigate Nazi crimes on its land as "the Holocaust of the Belarusian people".[26]
Israeli state presence
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs says diplomatic relations with Belarus were established on 26 May 1992 and that the Embassy of Israel in Minsk opened in October 1993.[27] The embassy's ambassador page, last updated on 6 May 2026, lists a "Chargé d'Affaires of the State of Israel in the Republic of Belarus", Tzevy Mirkin, born in Moscow in 1974, who emigrated in 1993 and previously served in the Israeli embassies in Latvia and Russia.[28] A news item on the embassy site (last updated 15 January 2025) says Mirkin met First Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Lukashevich on the 150th anniversary of the birth of Chaim Weizmann, "a native of Belarus", and that cultural cooperation was a particular focus.[29] The embassy's cultural arm is the "Nativ" centre in Minsk (see above). The UN votes, the Babruysk remarks and other official contacts are covered at Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Belarus.
Religious Zionism and Chabad
No source consulted shows a Religious Zionist or Mizrachi body in Belarus. The WJC says the Orthodox Union supports Bnei Akiva schools in Minsk.[6]
Chabad Lubavitch of Belarus
- Main article: Chabad Lubavitch of Belarus
The Chabad-Lubavitch directory lists seven Belarusian centres, each with one institution: Bobruisk, Brest, Gomel, Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev and Orsha.[30] The WJC says the Union of Religious Jewish Congregations of Belarus (OIROB) "mainly unites the representatives of the Hassidic Chabad Lubavitch movement" and that its chief rabbi is Shneor Deitch, and that Chabad supports two high schools.[6]
Synagogue movements and schools
The WJC describes three religious streams: OIROB (mainly Chabad), the Judaic Religious Union in the Republic of Belarus (IROB), led by Rabbi Avraham Benenson, and the Association of Progressive Judaism, led by Rabbi Grigory Abramovitch. It says IROB claims 14 communities and OIROB 13.[6] It lists Jewish schools and kindergartens in Minsk, Gomel, Pinsk, Mogilev and Babruysk, among them the Or Avner schools, a Jewish national school named "Hatikva" in Gomel, and a Karlin-Stolin high school in Pinsk.[6]
Leaders
| Name | Position | Source date |
|---|---|---|
| Oleg Rogatnikov | Chairman of UBJOC; contact person of the Zionist Federation of Belarus; 39th Congress delegate (Yisrael Beiteinu World)[7][6][2] | 2025 |
| Elena Kulevnich | Deputy chairman of UBJOC; alternate candidate for the delegate seat[13][16] | 2025 |
| Kristina Bezdezhskaya | Deputy chairman of UBJOC; alternate candidate for the delegate seat[13][16] | 2025 |
| Oleg Babayev | UBJOC board member; chairman of the "Electoral Commission" in the English minutes of 17 May 2025[5][16] | 2025 |
| Maria Shlyakhtina | Secretary of the board meetings of 1 March and 17 May 2025[5][16] | 2025 |
| Grigory Levin | UBJOC board member[5] | 2025 |
| Ilana Lomkin | Head of the Jewish Agency in Belarus[20] | 2025 |
| Iris Zweig | Director of the Israeli cultural centre "Nativ", Minsk[20] | 2025 |
| Paula Lam Haim | Head of the JDC mission in Belarus[20] | 2025 |
| Shneor Deitch | Chief rabbi of OIROB, according to the WJC[6] | undated |
| Tzevy Mirkin | Israeli chargé d'affaires in Minsk[28] | 2026 |
See also
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Belarus
- Chabad Lubavitch of Belarus
- Zionist movement Ukraine
- Zionist movement Russia
- Zionist movement by country
Notes
- ↑ World Zionist Organization, "Zionist Federations", accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 World Zionist Organization, "Belarus", 39th Zionist Congress, accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 World Zionist Organization, "Rules of Election 2" (Rules for holding elections of delegates to the Zionist Congress, Federation of Zionist Organizations of the Republic of Belarus, dated 28 February 2025, English), accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 World Zionist Organization, "The Belarus Federation's Constitution" (English translation of the charter of the Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations and Communities, eight scanned pages), accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 World Zionist Organization, "Rules of Election" (minutes of the UBJOC board meeting of 1 March 2025, English), accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 World Jewish Congress, "Community in Belarus", accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 World Zionist Organization, "Delegates", 39th Zionist Congress, accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 World Zionist Organization, "Summary of election results and agreements for the 39th Congress" (Hebrew), as submitted to the Zionist Court on 9 October 2025, accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 World Zionist Organization, "Summary of election results and agreements for the 38th Congress, 2020" (Hebrew), accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 The Jewish Agency for Israel, "Наши офисы" (Russian), accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Israel.com, "aliyah-by-country.csv", accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Sergio DellaPergola, "World Jewish Population, 2023", American Jewish Year Book 2023, accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Союз белорусских еврейских общественных объединений и общин (UBJOC), "О нас" (Russian), accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ World Zionist Organization, "Belarus - General Assembly" (minutes of the UBJOC board meeting of 2 June 2023, English), accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ Zionist Supreme Court, "Ruling in File 018/2020" on the federations' elections to the 38th Congress, 1 October 2020, accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 World Zionist Organization, "Election Results- English" (minutes of 17 May 2025), accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ World Zionist Organization, "Election Results- Russian" (Russian minutes of 17 May 2025, scanned), accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ World Zionist Organization, "Puclic Announcenent" (photograph of a posted extract from the minutes of 17 May 2025), accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 World Jewish Congress, "Belarus (Oleg Rogatnikov)", nomination for Member Communities' Vice Presidents, 17th Plenary Assembly, accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 Stmegi.com, "Лидеры белорусских еврейских общественных объединений и общин обсудили планы на будущий год" (Russian), 19 September 2025, accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal, "Our affiliates", accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ KKL-JNF, "KKL-JNF offices worldwide", accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 СБ. Беларусь сегодня, "Чтобы построить будущее, нужно знать и ценить прошлое" (interview with Oleg Rogatnikov, Russian), 11 October 2024, accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ Israel.com, "Aliyah from Belarus: Numbers and Process", accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ European Jewish Congress, "Belarus" (news category listing), accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "Belarus president says Jews got the world to 'bow before them' after the Holocaust", by Cnaan Liphshiz, 6 July 2021, accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, "The Embassy", Embassy of Israel to Belarus, accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, "The ambassador", Embassy of Israel to Belarus, accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, "Chargé d'Affaires of the State of Israel Tzevy Mirkin met with First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Sergei Lukashevich", Embassy of Israel to Belarus, accessed 13 November 2026.
- ↑ Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, "Belarus – Centers", accessed 13 November 2026.
