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World Jewish News
Russian Orthodox Church and Israel in State of Latent Conflict
28.12.2008
For the last two weeks, the Israeli Foreign Office and the Russian Spiritual Mission1 in Jerusalem (RSM) have been in a state of tacit conflict. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has suspended the issuance of work permits for Orthodox volunteers because of a "deception by the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church."
The Ministry of Internal Affairs spokeswoman Sabin Hadad gave detailed explanations to the IzRus portal concerning the essence of the conflict. According to her, two weeks ago, the representative of RSM arrived at the office of Ministry of Internal Affairs for the processing of visas - permits for volunteers to work in Israel. Under the rules, only a person who is physically already in Israel can apply for such a permit. But "a check of one of the requests showed that the volunteer is not in the country, which contradicts the instructions." The representative of the church kept insisting in the form of the ultimatum that the volunteer is in Israel. As a result, the Ministry of Internal Affairs conducted a more thorough inspection, proving that this person was not in the country. "It turned out that the church representative has not been precise in his words, and that this was an attempt to obtain the permit against the instructions," said the Ministry of Internal Affairs spokeswoman. After the church representative admitted conveying the incorrect information, he was asked to present it in writing, but he categorically refused.
According to Hadad, her office particularly outraged by the fact that church representative, caught lying, "was trying to harm a staff member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs". The Ministry of Internal Affairs does not refuse to provide services to the Russian Orthodox Church, but "insists on the seriousness of a deliberate violation."
In this regard, the Ministry of Internal Affairs requires RSM to provide a written document with a description of incident. The aim is to get a written confession that the violation had happened. But the representatives of the Russian Spiritual Mission refuse to provide such a letter.
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