The period of struggle for the formation of the Jewish state and its recognition by the UN (which would not have taken place without the support of the Soviet Union) lasted for almost two decades. The subsequent rupture of diplomatic relations was followed by almost a quarter century confrontation, Soviet support for Israel's enemies, and unofficial contacts with its leaders. In the last 15 years the two countries have maintained friendly diplomatic and economic relations, while informal contacts have become truly unprecedented. Israeli presidents and prime ministers, not to mention politicians and officials of lower rank, have become frequent guests in Russia. Russian presidents paid official visits to Israel. There is hardly anyone in the Russian elite who has not been to Israel.
More than a million new Russian-speaking Israelis are the first massive aliyah which has not lost ties with the country of exodus. It is hard to say how many Israeli businessmen, free lancers, and managers live in Russia now. Estimates fluctuate from several dozen thousand to a hundred thousand. Such a scale of exchanges is a sign of sound interstate relations, and an earnest of their durability, all the more so since in case of Russia it is based on the institutions of the Diaspora. The dynamics of their development is comparable only with that in the United States.
Every year thousands of children visit Russian-based Israeli schools, which are funded by the World ORT. Joint programs of Jewish University in Jerusalem and the Institute of Asian and African Studies (IAAS) at Moscow State University, and St. Petersburg State University have allowed hundreds of students to receive professional education in the field of Jewish studies. Graduates of the IAAS Center for Jewish Studies and Jewish Civilization, which was transformed into Russia's first department of Jewish studies in 2006, have formed a new generation of Russian diplomats specializing in the Middle East. The level of their education is equal to that of their American and British colleagues. Today, Moscow and Jerusalem are the intellectual centers of the Jewish world.
Israeli-Russian diplomatic relations were restored when the Soviet period was drawing to a close. But the historic changes which Russia has been through in the last 15 years have had almost no effect on their development. Our relations have developed steadily regardless of the situation at home and abroad. The adherence of the Russian leadership to the principles of free enterprise and emigration, and freedom of religious and public activities have spared them many problems of the past periods.
Needless to say, Russian-Israeli relations are not perfectly smooth. We have disputed issues, but this is true of ties between any countries. However, the level of disagreements cannot even compare with what it was before. Moreover, Russia and Israel are strategic allies in the struggle against political Islamism and international terrorism, which is its striking power.
Inter-religious contacts have occupied a special place in the dialogue between Moscow and Jerusalem. Israeli leaders respected the interests of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) even when our countries did not have diplomatic relations. This experience proved to be useful when the ROC leaders found themselves among the first echelon of the Russian elite, all the more so since the new government policy made it possible for the Russian Orthodox communities at home and abroad to abandon their contradictions. In turn, the development of synagogue life in Russia, and the contacts of local rabbis with the Israeli Supreme Rabbinate have enabled the religious leaders of the two countries to establish bilateral contacts.
The revision of the history of World War II, and the appearance of the notion of the Holocaust in Russian historiography, which was not recognized in the Soviet times, has played a significant role in the development of Russian-Israeli relations. The Russian Jewish Congress built a memorial synagogue in Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow as part of the Memorial of the Great Patriotic War. The synagogue has a memorial museum of Holocaust victims and Jewish historic legacy. Russia pays homage to millions of victims of the Catastrophe of the European Jewry, half of whom were killed on Soviet territory. Boris Yeltsin attended the opening ceremony of the Moscow Memorial, and Vladimir Putin visited the Israeli Holocaust Memorial at Yad Vashem. These facts have become a historic breakthrough in interstate relations.
The economy is probably the only sphere, where the two countries have not achieved great success. Economic ties are important, but remain secondary to human contacts. At the same time, the economic potential of Russian-Israeli cooperation is very high. It is enough to mention the military-technical sphere, high technologies, and supply of energy carriers. Lack of progress in economic cooperation is largely due to direct pressure from the United States, a strategic ally of Israel, which is watching jealously its cooperation with potential American rivals like Russia.
On the eve of the jubilee we should pay tribute to those who have made a contribution to the promotion of dialogue. The history of Russian-Israeli relations is inseparable from the history of both countries' ambassadors. Russia was represented in Israel by Alexander Bovin, a prominent journalist, expert on international affairs, and a Soviet high society figure; Mikhail Bogdanov (whose professional contribution is particularly great), and Gennady Tarasov, prominent diplomats and Arabists.
Israel sent twice as many ambassadors to Russia. The brilliant professional Aryeh Levin, who carried the burden of restoring diplomatic relations and the Israeli Embassy in Moscow, passed on the baton to political appointees - Gen. Bar-Lev, the founder of the famous defense line on the Sinai peninsular in the 1970s; and Prof. Aliza Shenhar, a folklore scholar. Highly professional Zvi Magen was succeeded by career diplomats Natan Meron and Arkady Mil-Man. Now Anna Azari has been appointed to this position, and Moscow is looking forward to her arrival. Her previous post was as Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine.
Some representatives of Israeli departments have also made a big contribution to the consolidation of bilateral relations. They include former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, former "Nativ" head Ya'acov Kedmi, and his deputy Robert Singer, rector of Jewish University in Jerusalem Menachem Ben-Sasson, and his successor Prof. Haim Rabinovich, Knesset deputies Yury Stern and Zeev Elkin, ministers Natan Sharansky, Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, and Avigdor Liberman, and businessmen Lev Levayev and Arkady Gaidamak.
These people have laid the foundations of Russian-Israeli cooperation on the Israeli side, just as their Russian colleagues have done it on their side. The two countries have developed normal ties, and this is the main difference from the past. Our cooperation rests on the same principles as Israel's relations with the U.S., Canada, and EU countries, which is the main achievement of the past 15 years.
