Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Kazakhstan

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Kazakhstan: its Jewish communal bodies and Chabad rabbis, Israeli rockets, artillery and armoured vehicles, Pegasus spyware used against activists, accession to the Abraham Accords, and Ehud Barak's paid advisory role to the Kazakh government

Kazakhstan has about 2,500 Jews, according to the World Jewish Congress (WJC), most of them Russian-speaking; Almaty is the main centre.[1] Kazakhstan has had full diplomatic relations with "Israel" since 1992,[1] and in November 2025 it announced that it would join the Abraham Accords.[2] The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) records Israeli multiple rocket launchers, missiles, artillery and armoured vehicles supplied to Kazakhstan.[3] In 2021 Amnesty International found NSO Group's Pegasus spyware on the phones of four Kazakh activists.[4] The leaked emails of Ehud Barak show him as a paid adviser to Kazakh state bodies in 2015–16.

Jewish community and religious life

History and demography

According to the WJC, Jews are believed to have reached the territory of modern Kazakhstan as Silk Road merchants in the Middle Ages, and a synagogue is mentioned in Turkestan in the 15th century. During the Second World War over 100,000 Jews were evacuated to Kazakhstan from the European part of the USSR. The Jewish population grew from 3,600 in 1936 to 28,000 in 1959. The WJC gives a current figure of about 2,500, including about 2,000 Bukharan and Mountain Jews. It cites the demographer Sergio DellaPergola's estimate of 2,700 to 6,500 in 2009, and notes that local Jewish organisations give "substantially higher" figures. There are synagogues in Almaty and Shymkent, more than 11 Jewish schools with some 650 pupils, and more than 20 Jewish organisations.[1]

Communal organisations

Association of Jewish National Organizations of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Mitzva". Mitzva is the WJC's Kazakh affiliate; its president is Alexandr Baron.[1] Its website says that it is sponsored by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).[5]

How far is it Zionist? No statement by Mitzva on Zionism or "Israel" was found. Its affiliation to the WJC is documented.

Kazakhstan Jewish Congress. The congress was founded in 2000 by the mining and banking billionaire Alexander Mashkevich, who became its first president. From 2002 to 2011 Mashkevich was also the first president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.[6] According to Ynetnews, he was also president of Keren Hayesod in the former Soviet Union and held Israeli citizenship. He funded the building of synagogues, mosques and churches in Kazakhstan.[7] He died in March 2025.[6]

How far is it Zionist? Its founder led Keren Hayesod, the Zionist fundraising body, in the former Soviet Union.[7] No statement by the congress itself on Zionism was found.

The Jewish Agency. According to the WJC, the Jewish Agency for Israel sponsors youth centres in several Kazakh cities, the largest in Almaty, where it teaches Jewish culture, history and Hebrew.[1]

Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States. The Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States (ARIS) lists Yeshaya Cohen as chief rabbi of Kazakhstan, Elchanan Cohen as chief rabbi of Almaty, and rabbis in Pavlodar, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kostanay, Shymkent, Karaganda, Astana and Almaty among its members.[8] ARIS says that it follows the halachic guidelines of the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of "Israel", and its presidium includes a member of the council of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate.[8] It describes itself as "apolitical" and says that its rabbis "interface with host governments at the highest levels".[9]

Chabad

Main article: Chabad Lubavitch of Kazakhstan


Israeli state and commercial ties

Diplomacy and normalisation

"Israel" opened an embassy in Astana in April 1992.[10] According to The Jerusalem Post, the embassy was first opened in Almaty and later moved to Astana, and Kazakhstan opened an embassy in Tel Aviv in 1996. Benjamin Netanyahu's visit in 2016 was the first by an Israeli prime minister to Kazakhstan.[11] On 6 November 2025, during a meeting with Donald Trump at the White House, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a joint telephone call with Trump and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The main subject was Kazakhstan's intention to join the Abraham Accords.[12] The US State Department said Kazakhstan had become "the first country in President Trump's second term to join" the accords, and that a signing ceremony would follow.[2] In April 2026 Tokayev held talks with the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and said the accession ceremony could take place in Astana "in the near future". Herzog said a number of agreements were being prepared, including one on avoiding double taxation.[13]

Arms

SIPRI records the following Israeli deliveries to Kazakhstan, worth 68.6 million trend-indicator values in total:[3]

  • 18 Lynx multiple rocket launchers (Kazakh designation Nayza), ordered in 2006 in a $30 million deal and delivered in 2008–09, with 50 EXTRA surface-to-surface missiles;
  • six Semser 122 mm self-propelled guns and 18 Cardom 120 mm mortars, made by rebuilding Kazakh equipment as part of a $120 million deal and delivered in 2008–09;
  • ten Litening targeting pods for Su-27 combat aircraft, delivered in 2009–10;
  • 20 SandCat armoured personnel carriers, produced under licence in Kazakhstan as the Alan and delivered in 2018–19.

The Jerusalem Post refers to "a 2009 corruption scandal involving Kazakh defense purchases from Israeli firms".[11]

Surveillance

On 9 December 2021 Amnesty International's Security Lab said it had confirmed that the phones of four Kazakh activists had been infected with Pegasus between 3 and 5 June 2021. All four were members of the youth movement Oyan, Qazaqstan ("Wake Up, Kazakhstan"), and the surveillance continued until at least July 2021.[4] Three of them had received Apple's "state-sponsored attacker" warning; according to Amnesty, the fact that the fourth had not suggested that those notified "represent only a fraction of the human rights activists targeted with the Pegasus spyware in Kazakhstan".[14]

Trade

The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reports that "Israel" imported goods worth $10.9 million from Kazakhstan in 2025 (2024: $7.7 million) and exported goods worth $55.1 million to it (2024: $44.9 million).[15] According to The Jerusalem Post, bilateral trade "fluctuates at around $500 million annually and is driven overwhelmingly by energy", and in 2023 Kazakhstan supplied roughly 40 per cent of "Israel"'s crude oil.[11] These figures are far higher than the Central Bureau of Statistics figures.

Political interference

UN voting

Kazakhstan voted in favour of the September 2025 General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.[16]

Ehud Barak's 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.[17]

  • Advisory contract. In May 2016 the Development Bank of Kazakhstan sent Barak's office the list of services in its contract with Hyperion Ltd, Barak's company. They included "supporting shift of political influence of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the USA and Europe", "forming of a positive image of the finance system of the Republic of Kazakhstan in banking communities of the USA, EU and Israel", and "publishing articles about the Republic of Kazakhstan [...] in the American, European and Israeli weighty publications aimed at perfection of the country image". The contract also required attendance at meetings of the International Independent Advisory Council, chaired by Alfred Gusenbauer, at least four times a year.[18]
  • Payment. In February 2016 Barak wrote to an aide of the prime minister, Karim Massimov, that he had been in Astana the week before and had raised with Massimov that "unlike the other members of the IIAC advisory board, who are paid through Samruk, I'm paid through Baitarek", and that payments had stopped for three months. He asked for his contract to be moved from Hyperion Ltd to Ergo Ltd, "both entities [...] under my sole ownership", and wrote: "I am proud and glad to help the Republic of Kazakhstan." The aide replied that the prime minister had ordered the head of Baiterek to resolve the issue.[19]
  • Requests from the foreign ministry. In April 2016 the Vienna law firm Lansky, Ganzger & Partner, which ran the advisory council's secretariat, passed on requests from the Kazakh foreign ministry for help with promoting the Astana International Financial Center and with trade and investment, and for a "report" of members' steps.[20] It also asked members for comments on President Nursultan Nazarbayev's manifesto "The World. The 21st Century", which "the Kazakhstani side could then use for publication including in Kazakhstani and international media".[21] The emails do not show whether Barak sent comments.
  • Almaty 2022 Olympic bid. On the eve of the International Olympic Committee's vote in July 2015, Barak asked Massimov's office to pass on a message to Massimov in Kuala Lumpur. He had spoken by phone to "Alex Giladi, an old friend and a long time Israeli influential member of the International Olympics Committee", and had "put all my weight behind your proposal in a long tel conversation". Massimov's office replied with his "deep gratitude for your continuous support".[22][23]
  • New Year message. On 1 January 2016 Barak sent Massimov a New Year message: "May the Lord helps you from Heaven. We will try to help Him on Earth."[24]

Jeffrey Epstein

Documents released by the US Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein files include the following references to Kazakhstan:

  • In April 2010 David Stern forwarded Epstein a Bloomberg report that Prince Andrew, on his fourth visit to Kazakhstan as a British special trade representative, had offered to organise meetings between British investors and Kazakh companies, according to the sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna.[25]
  • In December 2011 Terje Rød-Larsen forwarded to Epstein his letter to a Kazakh official congratulating him on the 20th anniversary of independence. He wrote that "Kazakhstan has enormous potential for becoming a major power".[26]
  • In October 2012 the Norwegian shipping executive Morits Skaugen forwarded to Epstein a proposal entitled "Kazakhstan - Small scale LNG", which he had sent to Rød-Larsen. Epstein passed it on to a business contact.[27]
  • On 11 May 2013 Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem of DP World wrote to Epstein that he was in a helicopter from Aktau to Ashgabat, "accompanying the president to inaugurate the new rail connection between china and cis countries", and that "we have signed a deal to manage the logistics".[28]
  • In March 2014 Epstein wrote to Larry Summers that "Kairat would host you there". He attached a profile of Kairat Kelimbetov, governor of the National Bank of Kazakhstan.[29]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 World Jewish Congress, Community in Kazakhstan worldjewishcongress.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 US Department of State, A New Era in U.S.-Kazakhstan Relations state.gov, 7 November 2025 (US government-side).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, trade register for Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, data generated 20 October 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Amnesty International, Kazakhstan: Four activists' mobile devices infected with Pegasus Spyware amnesty.org, 9 December 2021.
  5. ↑ Association of Jewish National Organizations of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Mitzva", Home page mitsva.kz, accessed 21 October 2026 (Mitzva-side).
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 World Jewish Congress, World Jewish Congress Mourns Loss of Alexander Mashkevich worldjewishcongress.org, 27 March 2025.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Head of the Kazakhstan Jewish Congress dies at 72 Ynetnews, 23 March 2025.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, The Rabbis rabbisalliance.org, accessed 21 October 2026 (Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States-side).
  9. ↑ Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, About rabbisalliance.org, accessed 21 October 2026 (Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States-side).
  10. ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011 (Israeli government-side).
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Alex Winston, Stan's the name: Inside Israel's growing partnerships across Central Asia The Jerusalem Post, 12 December 2025.
  12. ↑ Office of the President of Kazakhstan, Presidents of Kazakhstan and the United States and the Prime Minister of Israel hold a joint phone conversation akorda.kz, November 2025 (Kazakh government-side).
  13. ↑ Ceremony of Kazakhstan's accession to Abraham Accords may be held in Astana Tengrinews, 27 April 2026.
  14. ↑ 'Unlawful Intrusion:' Kazakh Activists' Mobile Devices Infected With Pegasus Spyware Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 9 December 2021.
  15. ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy) (Israeli government-side).
  16. ↑ 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).
  17. ↑ Distributed Denial of Secrets, Ehud Barak emails, 27 August 2025, with download at data.ddosecrets.org, accessed 21 October 2026.
  18. ↑ Email from the Development Bank of Kazakhstan to Moran Sinay, forwarded to Ehud Barak and Nili Priell Barak, "Fwd: report for 2015", 4 May 2016, file ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox/0000000452-Fwd_ report for 2015.html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 21 October 2026.
  19. ↑ Email thread between Ehud Barak and an aide to the Kazakh prime minister, "Fwd: A small problem", 18–19 February 2016 (forwarded 3 May 2016), file ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox/0000000466-Fwd_ A small problem.html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 21 October 2026.
  20. ↑ Email from Gabriel Lansky to IIAC members, "IIAC: Request for assistance re Astana International Financial Center and Trade and investment policy", 1 April 2016, file ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!1/0000001332-IIAC_ Request for assistance re Astana International Financial Center and Trade and investment policy.html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 21 October 2026.
  21. ↑ Email from Gabriel Lansky to IIAC members, "Request from Kazakhstan - comments on manifest of President Nazarbayev before April 22", 20 April 2016, file ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox/0000000800-Request from Kazakhstan - comments on manifest of President Nazarbayev before April 22 [K10_0001].html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 21 October 2026.
  22. ↑ Email from Ehud Barak to the office of the Kazakh prime minister, "Almaty 2022", 31 July 2015, file ehbarak1@gmail.com/Sent!3/1 (257).html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 21 October 2026.
  23. ↑ Email from the office of the Kazakh prime minister to Ehud Barak, "Re: Almaty 2022", 31 July 2015, file ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!12/1 (75).html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 21 October 2026.
  24. ↑ Email from Ehud Barak to the office of the Kazakh prime minister, "Happy New Year", 1 January 2016, file ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox!4/1 (145).html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 21 October 2026.
  25. ↑ Email from David Stern to Jeffrey Epstein, "Business Week: U.K.’s Prince Andrew to Help Kazakh Companies Find Investors", 20 April 2010, EFTA00760183, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 9, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 21 October 2026.
  26. ↑ Email from Terje Rød-Larsen to Jeffrey Epstein, "Fw:", 18 December 2011, EFTA01848987, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 10, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 21 October 2026.
  27. ↑ Email thread between Morits Skaugen, Jeffrey Epstein and a contact, "Kazakhstan - Small scale LNG and The Small scale LNG Supply Chain", 13–14 October 2012, EFTA00945311, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 9, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 21 October 2026.
  28. ↑ Email thread between Sultan bin Sulayem and Jeffrey Epstein, "Re: Africa trip", 10–11 May 2013, EFTA00960878, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 9, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 21 October 2026.
  29. ↑ Email from Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Summers, 9 March 2014, EFTA00985418, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 9, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 21 October 2026.
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