| Lishkat Hakesher | |
 | |
| Formation | 1952-1953 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Moshe Sharett |
leader | Naomi Ben-Ami |
Nativ (Hebrew:נתיב –path), or officiallyLishkat Hakesher orThe Liaison Bureau, is an Israeli governmental liaison organization that maintained contact withJews living in theEastern Bloc during theCold War and encouragedaliyah, immigration to Israel.
Founded as part of thePrime Minister's office by Prime MinisterMoshe Sharett in 1952–1953, Nativ was designed to function covertly, making contacts, fosteringJewish education, and aidingimmigration to Israel. Nativ was not the first organization to do this;Mossad Le'aliyah Bet, part of theHaganah, had brought Jews to Israel in defiance of theBritish Mandate, but this ended with the creation of Israel. Nativ was to continue that mission, except now in defiance of the Soviet Union. Although it operated in a clandestine manner, the official policy was never to break Soviet laws.[1] This did not stop theKGB from suspecting that it was spying. In fact, as recently as 1998 Nativ was accused of conducting espionage operations.[2] A former Israeli ambassador to Moscow claims that the KGB conducted exhaustive surveillance measures on all their operations, but never directly interfered.[3]
Nativ began its foreign operations out of Israeli embassies, yet this ended after theSix-Day War, when Russia and fellow Soviet countries severed diplomatic ties with Israel. This led Nativ to focus more of its efforts onWestern countries, where it lobbied governments to promote greater emigration freedom in the USSR with the phrase "Let My People Go". While its Soviet operations were stymied, theRefusenik movement began, bringing greater international attention to the Soviet emigration issue. Nativ assisted the movement by materially supporting the refuseniks and fostering refusenik organizations.[citation needed]
In the mid 1970s international pressure forced the Soviet Union to allow greater emigration, and the number of Soviet Jews leaving for Israel increased dramatically. Thedissolution of the Soviet Union ended the need to conduct operations clandestinely, and today Lishkat Hakesher openly runs Jewish clubs and education services in Russia. It is also tasked with issuing visas and processing immigrants coming to Israel under theLaw of Return.[4] However, it has recently faced budget and personnel cuts, immigrant backlogs, and pressure to close from groups including theMossad andShin Bet. As of November 2006, Nativ had 60 employees and a budget of approximately 11.6 millionUSD.[4]
WhenKadima formed a coalition government withYisrael Beiteinu, Nativ was moved from the Prime Minister's Office to the Ministry of Strategic Affairs.[5] In February 2007,Avigdor Liberman, the Minister of Strategic Affairs and a Russian emigre, proposed that Lishkat Hakesher move into new operations among Russian Jews who emigrated to the United States, Canada, and Germany.[6] Under Liberman's leadership, Nativ's Operation Germany attempted to convince ethnic Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union to emigrate from Germany to Israel.[7] However, with his resignation in January 2008, plans of placing two Nativ employees in Germany are not likely to be carried out.[8]
As of 2005, the only requirements to lead Lishkat Hakesher were the ability to speakRussian and experience in managing bureaucracies. Headquartered inTel Aviv, the director reports directly to the prime minister. All Nativ representatives in foreign countries report to the director, and are not responsible to the local diplomats. Representatives are supposed to inform the local ambassador of their activities, though failure to do this has caused tension in the past.[9]
The prime minister has the power to directly appoint a new head, although in the last succession Prime MinisterAriel Sharon created a special committee, chaired by SecretaryYisrael Maimon, to recommend a replacement. The committee continued searching for a candidate under newly elected Prime MinisterEhud Olmert,[10] finally selectingNaomi Ben-Ami, the Israeli ambassador toUkraine.
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