I am a kedmi biography. Kedmi Yakov: biography, career, personal life

Comrades Jews!

So you say - don’t drink! And themselves... I apologize, of course, for the chaotic presentation, but emotions are going through the roof. Okay, I'll try sequentially and in order.

Recently, on a TV channel in our country respected by business people, in one of the most authoritative political and analytical programs dedicated to Kerry’s meeting with Putin, I saw a man who was introduced as the head of a certain retired Israeli intelligence service. I was very happy and prepared to listen to an intelligent man, since I have enormous respect for your special services, even in the person of their retirees.

The man spoke very firmly and clearly in excellent Russian that the Americans were complete scum, but our great leader finally kicked them in the ass, after which they tucked their tail between their legs and sent their Secretary of State to beg for mercy. And at the same time they will beg to take back this fucking Ukraine, which they absolutely did not need. And no one needs it at all, since crests can never do anything worthwhile for themselves, without Russia they are doomed to beg, and this is already clear to everyone.

Then I was slightly pressed down, I tensed up and remembered this wonderful man. What initially let me down was that the surname was pronounced Kedmi. But this is actually Yasha Kazakov, whom the KGB brought to Israel at the very end of the sixties as a result of a brazen special operation, which the Jews, in their naivety, ate without choking.

And the Nativ organization was once indeed a very authoritative and effective intelligence service dealing with emigration from the countries of the socialist camp, including illegal ones. But in the nineties, when Yasha, already under the name Kedmi, made his way into its leadership, for purely historical reasons it simply turned into a kind of optional club of interests, and then it was practically disbanded as a special service. However, Yakov Iosifovich flew out of there, not without a scandal, having nevertheless been suspected, albeit with a huge delay, by really serious organizations of very unsightly connections.

And now this great freedom fighter sits, with his flourishing appearance showing the entire Russian world what wild successes have been achieved by eight million smart people on twenty thousand kilometers in the ass of the world, and at the same time telling that forty million stupid cattle on six hundred thousand square kilometers of the most fertile lands in the center of Europe will never be able to exist independently without his brilliant advice and the firm guiding hand of our wise leader. And at the same time it pours so much crap on the United States that immeasurably exceeds the reserves of even the most brutal of our domestic fighters against the vile imperialism of this world gendarme.

And since that day, for several weeks now, “the head of the Israeli secret service, Yakov Kedmi,” has not left the domestic television, giving instructions to the corrupt and vile Western world simultaneously on all federal channels and even manages to wander into UHF channels.

But the point, of course, is not about this particular teacher and thinker; I would not dare to bother you about him alone. It’s just that our situation today is not very simple. In the first ranks of the steel ranks of the defenders of Russian stability, Orthodox hierarchs, Muslim prophets and Jewish nomenklatura patriarchs rallied shoulder to shoulder, demonstrating in this case the miracles of the most advanced ecumenism. And public figures and so-called “experts” of the same faiths do not appear on television screens, including Jewish intellectual power, which is constantly represented, for example, by such a dove of peace as Evgeniy Satanovsky.

But these are all our locals, I have no complaints against you here. However, they are constantly receiving help from the territory of your state itself. And now there is no doubt that if in the public media space you hear the opinion of a certain “representative of Israel” being announced, then, with rare exceptions, immediately after that something will fall on the heads of our unfortunate people that would take away the saints, both figuratively and the most literal meaning of the expression.

But still, I don’t know, maybe in Israel there is some kind of the most important complaints bureau to ask for at least a little help? Please, keep these guys with you for a while, well, let them come to us through one, or something, is it really impossible to come up with something? After all, your country managed to extricate itself from such hopeless situations, be merciful, do not refuse!

I really hope that there is at least someone in the Holy Land who can redirect these prayers of mine to the right address. And if not, then do one last favor. Print this text and stick it in the crack of the Western Wall. Maybe it will come to this...

The future diplomat and statesman was born on March 5, 1947 in Moscow. Yakov Iosifovich Kedmi (real name Kazakov) came from a family of engineers. He was the eldest of three children. After graduating from school, he went to work at a factory as an ordinary concrete and reinforcement worker. At the same time, he studied at the capital's University of Transport.

In February 1967, Yakov broke through a police cordon into the Israeli embassy in the capital of the USSR. Here he applied for immigration. However, the strange young man was refused: diplomats considered Yakov a KGB agent. Yakov received forms of documents to travel to Israel only during his second visit to the embassy.

In the summer of that year, war broke out between Israel and several Middle Eastern states. The USSR broke off relations with Israel. At the same time, Yakov renounced his USSR citizenship. Subsequently, he publicly condemned the policies of anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union and refused to serve in the army of the Land of the Soviets. Kazakov stated that he would only serve in the Israeli army.

Emigrant Yakov Kazakov

In the winter of 1969, Yakov received official permission to leave the country. He was asked to leave the USSR within two weeks. First, Jacob reached Vienna, and from there flew to Israel. In this country, a young man took part in a movement that aimed to organize the repatriation of Jews from the Soviet Union.

In 1970, Yakov achieved that his family was released from the USSR to Israel. The young rebel fulfilled his promise: he joined the ranks of the Israeli army. He served in tank units. Behind him is a military school, as well as an intelligence school.

In 1973, Yakov completed his military service and went to work in the airport security department. At the same time, he honed his education: he studied at the National Security College and the Israel Institute of Technology.

In 1977, Kazakov was invited to collaborate with the Nativ bureau. This is an Israeli government agency that helps Jews move to Israel. In the spring of 1978, Kazakov changed his last name to Kedmi.

In 1990, Kedmi became deputy head of the Nativ bureau, and two years later he headed this organization. He took a direct part in the mass migration of Jews from Russia to Israel. In 1999, Kedmi was dismissed. His departure was preceded by a series of scandals related to Kedmi’s activities as head of the bureau.

After retirement, Kedmi became actively involved in politics. Until 2015, the ex-intelligence officer was prohibited from entering Russia. Now he is a frequent visitor to the territory of his former homeland. He often takes part in political television shows.

Yakov Kedmi is married. His wife Edith left for Israel from the Land of the Soviets in 1969. The Kedmi family has two children.

Today, Russian television channels are literally replete with various popular talk shows dedicated to debates on politics and confrontations in this area. In one of these programs, an inquisitive viewer can very often see a man named Yakov Kedmi, whose biography will be discussed in as much detail as possible in this article. This man deserves our closest attention, because he did a lot for the formation of the modern Israeli state.

Early life

Yakov Iosifovich Kazakov was born on March 5, 1947 in Moscow into a very intelligent family of Soviet engineers. Besides him, there were two more children in the family. After our hero graduated from school, he began working at a factory as a concrete rebar worker. In parallel with this, the young man entered the correspondence department of the Moscow State University of Railways and Communications.

Manifestation of rebellion

Yakov Kedmi, whose biography is full of various interesting events, on February 19, 1967, committed an act that in those years only an extremely desperate and courageous person could decide to do. The young man came to the gates of the Israeli embassy in Moscow and stated that he wanted to move to this country for permanent residence. Of course, no one let him in, so he forced his way into the consulate territory with force and abuse, where he was eventually met by a diplomat named Herzl Amikam. The diplomat decided that everything that was happening was a possible provocation on the part of the KGB and therefore did not give a positive answer to the young man’s request. However, a week later, the persistent Yakov again got to the embassy and still received the much-coveted immigration forms.

In June 1967, when the USSR broke off diplomatic relations with Israel due to the Six-Day War, Kadmi publicly renounced his Union citizenship and began demanding the opportunity to permanently leave for Israel. Then he entered the US Embassy in Moscow, where he had a long conversation with the consul about leaving for the country of the Promised Land.

On May 20, 1968, Yakov Kedmi (whose biography is worthy of respect) became the author of a letter that was sent to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In it, the guy harshly condemned manifestations of anti-Semitism and put forward a demand to deprive him of Soviet citizenship. In addition, he arbitrarily declared himself a citizen of the Israeli state. This statement was the first of its kind in the Union. Ultimately, in February 1969, he finally moved to Israel and, according to some sources, even burned his passport as a Soviet citizen on Red Square. Although Kedmi himself regularly denies this fact.

Life in a new homeland

Yakov Kedmi, for whom Israel became a new place of residence, upon arriving in the country, immediately took up the issue of the repatriation of Soviet Jews. In 1970, he even went on hunger strike near the UN building because the Soviet authorities forbade his family to move in with him. At the same time, the Americans believed that the young Jew was a secret KGB agent. The family reunion took place on March 4, 1970, after which Yakov immediately became a fighter in the Israel Defense Forces. The service took place in tank units. Then there was training at a military school and intelligence school. In 1973 he was transferred to the reserve. The year before, his son was born.

After the service

Having become a civilian, Yakov went to work in the security service of the Arkia airport terminal. He also simultaneously became a student at the Israel Institute of Technology, and a little later successfully completed his studies at Tel Aviv University and the National Security College.

Transition to the intelligence services

In 1977, Yakov Kedmi, whose biography by that time was already filled with serious achievements, received an invitation to work at the Nativ bureau. This structure was an Israeli state institution that operated under the Office of the Prime Minister of the country. The main responsibility of the bureau was to provide contacts with Jews abroad and assist them in emigrating to Israel. In the early days of its existence, Nativ actively worked with Jews living both in the USSR and other countries of Eastern Europe. Moreover, at first the emigration took place illegally. By the way, Yakov received the surname Kedmi already in 1978, when he worked in a special transit emigration center located in Vienna.

Promotion

In 1990, Kedmi moved up the career ladder and became deputy director of Nativ. In the period 1992-1998. Yakov was already the head of the structure. It was during the period of Kedmi’s leadership in the bureau that the maximum influx of Jews from the countries of the post-Soviet space occurred. During this time, almost a million people moved to Israel. Such a significant influx of specialists and prominent scientists played an important role in the formation of Israel as a state. Colossal credit for the resettlement of Jews to their historical homeland belongs to Kedmi.

Leaving Nativ

In the fall of 1997, Yakov received an invitation to work on a committee that dealt with the problem of increasing Iranian aggression and improving relations between Moscow and Tehran. It is worth noting that Kedmi’s new job was personally proposed by the then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the process of work, Yakov made a proposal to involve influential Jews of the Russian Federation in the deterioration of relations between Russia and Iran. However, Netanyahu rejected this proposal, which served to cool relations between him and Kedmi.

In 1999, Yakov finally left the intelligence services. His resignation was preceded by a number of serious scandals that were directly related to Nativ. Structures such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shabak intelligence and Mossad were categorically against the functioning of Nativ. According to Kedmi himself, after retiring he became an ordinary pensioner, although receiving a pension equal to that of a general.

Also in 1999, Yakov initiated a public discussion of his differences with Netanyahu. The former head of Nativ picketed the prime minister with his criticism for allegedly betraying the interests of the Jews and destroying relations with the Russian Federation.

Family status

Yakov Kedmi, for whom his family has played a leading role throughout his life, has been married for a very long time. His wife, Edith, is a food chemist by training and for some time was an employee of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. After almost 40 years of continuous work, she retired. The couple raised two sons and a daughter.

The couple’s eldest son studied at the Interdisciplinary College in Herzliya and has two higher education diplomas. The daughter graduated from the Academy of Arts.

Our days

Yakov Kedmi says one thing about Russia - until 2015, this country was banned for him. But now the situation has changed; the influential Jew is a fairly frequent guest in the Russian Federation. He often attends various political shows on television as an expert. Most often he can be seen in the program of Vladimir Solovyov, broadcast on the Russia-1 channel.

In addition, the “Dialogues” program, well known to many, is very popular. In it, Yakov Kedmi discusses the topics of the Middle East, international politics and the global economy with another specialist in this area - Russian Evgeniy Satanovsky. Quite often, Yakov is invited to the authoritative radio station Vesti-FM.

Yakov Kazakov (now Kedmi) was born on March 5, 1947. He independently came to the decision to leave for Israel; the first, having no relatives in Israel, applied for departure in Moscow; the first to renounce Soviet citizenship and achieve publication of this in a leading American newspaper; was the first to leave Moscow; was the first to stage a protest hunger strike near the UN building; actively opposed the policy of “quiet diplomacy” of Israel and Nativ in relation to the USSR, against censorship regarding emigration from the USSR; in 1978 he joined Nativ, went through all the steps of the hierarchical ladder and in 1992 headed this organization.

The interview was conducted in the summer of 2004. In subsequent years, it was repeatedly supplemented as new questions arose: Kedmi invariably and favorably answered the most tricky of them.

– Yasha, on June 13, 1967, you made a statement renouncing Soviet citizenship. This, as far as I know, is the first statement of its kind in our wave of Zionist revival. It was beautifully formulated and then spread throughout the world, was quoted by a number of leading newspapers and became part of our history. And you were only 20 years old at that time, and you did this, as far as I understand from sources, on your birthday?

– It was June 11, 1967. I remember this well because on June 11, the Soviet Union broke off diplomatic relations with Israel, and on that day I broke off my relations with the Soviet Union. There was an associative connection like this. As for my birthday, that's another day. This day became a holiday of all times and peoples, because on this day - March 5th, I was 6 years old then, the sun set, and Stalin gave to God... - I won’t say his soul, because he didn’t have a soul, but then what he had there instead of a soul. By the time I renounced my citizenship, I was actually 20 years old. By that time I had been thinking about the letter for two months. I submitted my exit documents back in February, and since the authorities constantly refused me, I realized that nothing could be achieved using conventional methods, and I began to think about alternative ones. What happened during the Six-Day War was only a catalyst, but the idea of ​​abandoning the Soviet paradise itself was born earlier. As far as I know, no one had previously renounced Soviet citizenship on the territory of the Soviet Union. There was a case of the diplomat Raskolnikov renouncing Soviet citizenship in Paris in 1936 or 1937, but he was in Paris. He renounced his citizenship when he was offered to return to Moscow, and he understood what would follow.

– You graduated from a Soviet school, were a student at the institute, you were only 20 years old, where does this power, this knowledge, this understanding come from?

- This, as they say, is from G-d.

– Family, home education?

- Uh... I loved mathematics.

– What institute did you study at?

– I studied by correspondence at the Institute of Transport Engineers: I had a large family, three children, and I was the eldest and had to work. There was no money for full-time study.

– Were you born in Moscow?

- And parents?

– Mom was born in Moscow, and father in Smolensk.

- Education?

– Engineering and technical workers.

– Is the family assimilated?

- Absolutely. My mother did not speak Yiddish, my father spoke it with his mother, my grandmother. No traditions, nothing. The first time I brought my father to the synagogue was when I was 19 years old.

– Have you ever encountered anti-Semitism?

– Nothing except standard situations. Everyday anti-Semitism that was in the air, nothing more.

– Communication medium?

- Purely Russian.

- Then where from? Such a nugget?

- Hmm... - “geek”. The authorities wanted to figure out whether this was a particular phenomenon or a general phenomenon, to understand how a person got to this point. The case was discussed at the plenum of the Komsomol Central Committee.

– Is this partly the influence of the Russian environment, the patriotism of Soviet culture?

– Perhaps, the transformation of all those principles that the authorities tried to instill in us through the system of upbringing and education. Russian patriotism was transformed into Jewish patriotism. You're right, I have nothing against it. The logic was primitively simple: if I am a Jew, then I must live in a Jewish state. If I don’t want to or can’t, then I have to somehow get rid of my Jewishness or not take it into account. It was impossible to get rid of him in the Soviet Union... essentially the same reaction to the situation that Herzl and a number of other Jews of his time had.

– And if such an opportunity was given, would you be ready?

– No, I wasn’t... When I came to this equation, a natural question arose: why should I get rid of it? How is this worse? This is mine, my own... this is “I”. I accept my existence as self-sufficient and am not going to give it up. This can only be fully realized within the framework of one’s national state. The concept of the Nation State in the sixties was much deeper, stronger and more unambiguous, more uncompromising, than it is today. Every people should live in their own country. There are, however, multinational states, such as the United States or the Soviet Union. But in both these cases there is a dominant influence of a certain national group. Anglo-Saxons, although now this is not very evident, in the USA, and Slavs on a Russian basis - in Russia.

– You tried to submit a request to leave back in February 1967. Did they serve it in Moscow before you?

– Until that time, no one applied without having relatives in Israel; such applications for departure were not accepted. How did the process go? People, those who had direct relatives in Israel, applied through friends or relatives to the OVIR and first found out whether they could apply or not - as was done in the Baltic states, for example. Before me, they almost never served it in Moscow. Those who had no relatives in Israel did not apply at all. The logic is simple: they did what had some chance of success. If there is no chance, then why engage in a hopeless and dangerous business? During the years of Soviet power, people were weaned off this.

– Did you have relatives in Israel?

- No, no one. It started with the fact that I went, or rather, broke into the Israeli embassy. I, like all Soviet citizens, was sure that I would not be allowed into the embassy. But I was 19 years old, I slipped past the security policeman, and he did not have time to grab me. Before that, I walked past him several times, looked closely, assessed the situation, calculated how he walked, in what rhythm, at what speed, when he turned. When I approached the gate from the right side, he was just at the end of the next passage to the left side of the gate and had his back to me. I ducked through the gate, he turned around, but it was too late.

– Did you know any of the embassy people?

- When it was?

– And he offered you an invitation to visit the embassy<,>or some kind of office phone in case they won’t let you in?

- Nothing. I think he was sure he wouldn't see me again.

– Perhaps he thought you were a provocateur or crazy?

- No, he saw me break through. He simply did not understand what kind of phenomenon this was. Boy, 19 years old... I didn’t look any older. Several years later I had the opportunity to read his report. I didn't find anything sensible in it. Then he told me: “When you left, I stood at the window and thought that it’s a pity that such a guy left, it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see him again, but he could become a good officer in the Israeli army.”

He saw me leaving, how “comrades” came up to me at the exit with obscenities: “What the hell are you doing here... hooliganism... we’ll take you to the police...” Indescribable, you understand. I tell them: “Here is my passport.” "What did you do there?!" I made up a story for them that I was looking for my grandfather, who disappeared during the war, and that I asked the embassy to check if he was in Israel. I had a letter with me that he was missing. They called somewhere, then told me to get out and not come into their sight again, otherwise I could not avoid 15 or 30 days, or they could even deport me from Moscow. I say: “Thank you.”

But they told me to come back in a week. I'll be back in a week. I do the same maneuver. - “Hello, I’ve arrived.” “Okay, if you come in another week, I’m ready to give you a challenge. But this is not a real challenge. This is a document confirming that we are ready to accept you. Does it suit you?" “Okay,” I say. I go out, a policeman stops me. I hand him my passport, and he tells me: “You’re passing through here, and I’m having problems because of you. They are starting to take me apart, clean me, and deprive me of progressives.” And then he told me an amazing phrase: “I have no right not to miss you. If you come like a human being and they let you in, I have no right not to let you in.” I remember that. When I came for the third time, another policeman was standing. He says: “What do you want?..Get out of here.” And I told him: “You have no right not to let me in. I have an appointment. Here are my details, here is your phone number, pass it on.” He calls on the phone... - “Go.” All! What happened? Soviet psychology! It turns out that legally it was possible. To do this, we had to go a little beyond the boundaries and check.

– The ambassadors didn’t know this?

“The ambassadors didn’t know anything because people didn’t come to them. They were more afraid of their own shadow than they were of the Soviets. What would I do in their place and what would I do later when such a problem arose? I said: “Come tomorrow at 12 o’clock sharp.” At five minutes to twelve I left the embassy and watched what would happen. If the policeman had intervened, I would have told him: “Sorry, this is my guest.” But he would never dare approach.

“The Americans then escorted us to their embassy in this way.

– Later, but then no one had done this yet, least of all the Israelis. So I went through, took the document from them and went to the OVIR. I wrote a statement and attached a document from the embassy, ​​which stated that if I received permission to leave the Soviet Union, Israel was ready to accept me. This document was really needed. According to international conventions on emigration, the state that gives you the opportunity to leave must be sure that you have somewhere to enter. First, I submitted documents to the regional OVIR, but they were not accepted there. Then I went to the city OVIR, but they weren’t accepted there either. They say: “Bring a challenge from relatives.” Then I wrote a complaint, attached an application, a copy of the Israeli document and submitted it to the city OVIR. I was called to the boss, Smirnov. There were two other employees with him. General conversation, they found out, explained... Then he says: “There is no general trip to Israel. Travel is only available for family reunions. Therefore, the answer to your request is negative.” But the documents were not returned to me! I say: “Okay,” and file a complaint with the All-Union OVIR. They summon me to the All-Union OVIR, they begin to threaten me, real passions and faces. And this continued until I realized that I couldn’t get through my comrades this way and that I would have to look for another way. That's when I started to think that I might have to renounce my Soviet citizenship. I went to the embassy completely calmly as much as I wanted. When a policeman appeared who didn’t know me, I quickly explained to him what was happening. On the day when they announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Israel, I went to the reception of the Supreme Council - according to the law, citizenship issues are decided by this body.

- Yasha, has anyone renounced citizenship before you?

– Being on the territory of the USSR – no. I came to the reception. A large hall, people are sitting, submitting applications. The majority, according to conversations, are relatives of prisoners who submit requests for pardon. I wrote a statement addressed to the Presidium of the Supreme Council and made four copies by hand. I put the main copy in an envelope and handed it to the window, and then went to the Israeli embassy to leave them a copy.

– Did you consult anyone?

- Well, how to do what to write?

- No, who could know that!

– Didn’t you consult with the ambassadors either?

– Didn’t even consider it necessary to consult?

- No, I already understood from their behavior what kind of advice this could be. June 11, the Six-Day War had just ended, an anti-Israeli demonstration was taking place near the embassy, ​​full of police, people. I come up, and the policeman tells me: “That’s it, you can’t pass, the relationship is broken, we don’t know who will represent Israel.” They were raging outside the gates... they were enraged that an Israeli flag was hung on the embassy flagpole as a sign of victory.

– Was there usually no flag?

– No, we are a quiet people... I thought and went to the American embassy. It was more difficult there, because in front of the embassy there were lawns about eight meters wide, then there was a gate, and a policeman was walking in front of it. Those. To get to the gate, I had to jump another eight meters unnoticed by the policeman... In general, I did the same trick and slipped through. The policeman managed to see me and rushed towards me, but did not have time to grab me.

– Did you understand how this could end for you?

– I understood everything. I passed by, and he shouted to me: “Well, come here, bitch, I’ll tear you apart.” I stopped and told him: “Come here, you bastard, come.” He became furious, and I said to him: “Well, go, go, you freak, what are you doing?” He hissed something else, and I turned and calmly walked on. He has no right to enter the embassy territory. Now I have another problem. Do I know what and where is located on the embassy premises? No.

“The Marines are standing there at the entrance.”

- They are standing now. This was not the case then. I go and ask where the consul is. They explained it to me, I went in, explained to him that I had submitted documents to leave for Israel, but they refused me, they don’t accept documents. I tried to go to the Israeli embassy, ​​but they didn’t let me in - diplomatic relations were severed. I told him that I had submitted an application to renounce Soviet citizenship, and asked him to forward a copy of the application to the UN... so that they would know if something happened. I didn’t know then and didn’t think that almost all the premises of the embassy were bugged... I also asked if I could, in principle, ask for political asylum on the territory of the embassy if necessary. He replied that, unfortunately, they did not have such practice and they would not be able to do this. Okay. I leave with a feeling of accomplishment. A whole company is already standing there, and of course I’m under the white hands... You should have seen the face of that policeman! – everything was written on it... Command: “Undress.” I undressed. - “Take off your panties?” - "No need". They searched everything, examined everything. - “Why were you at the embassy?” I said that I was not allowed into the Israeli embassy, ​​and I came to find out who represents the interests of Israel. They didn’t let me talk to the Israelis; I went to talk to the Americans. They: “Now we will take you to court, you will get your 30 days, and then we will evict you from Moscow.” I told them: “Do what you want. Can I get dressed? "Get dressed." I sat down and began to read the newspaper. As my late grandmother said, “zero attention, a pound of contempt.” I sat for three hours. Phones, conversations...

– Was this a police station?

- No, they had a little area there in the corner. All their superiors came running there. After all, their heads were torn off for this, and rightfully so - after all, they were allowed to pass. “You screwed up, but who fooled you? This “spendrick”, this little Jew? Oh, you, your mother... We taught you, your mother... we taught you, your mother... we raised you, where is the vigilance?

– By that time, they had already accumulated a dossier on you?

- Certainly.

– They studied it for three hours?

- No. They called the service that guards the American embassy, ​​then the second and fifth departments of the KGB.

– What did the second department do?

– Counterintelligence, and fifthly, dissidents. The Fifth Directorate was created anew in 1967. Philip Bobkov was put in charge. The fifth was engaged in all types of internal anti-state activities on an ideological, political and national basis. There was a Jewish department, a German department... There was a department that dealt with the Chinese.

– Balts, Ukrainian nationalists?

– Yes, too, but it was a different direction. The Jews have a state abroad. The Germans and Chinese do the same. Then there were the religious ones: Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, Muslims, the white church, the gray church, but they did not deal with Jews. Then there were internal problems - nationalists of all stripes who do not have a state abroad. Then there are ideological problems: Trotskyists, anarchists, dissidents, liberals. The first and second departments were the main ones. The fifth directorate was not the main one, i.e. it was one rank lower.

– From your point of view, was the structuring effective?

– They had it correct and effective. Then Bobkov, who by that time was already retired, he left in 1991 with the rank of army general and deputy chairman of the KGB, told me...

- Excuse me, but what did your position as the leader of Nativ correspond to in the military hierarchy?

– In the Israeli military hierarchy, this is parallel to “aluf” - the second rank of general, i.e. according to Soviet concepts, it corresponds to a lieutenant general. So, what was the problem of the Soviet Union? They did not have an effective apparatus for assessing the situation regarding various anti-state, political or national movements within the country. When they created this department, they received the first tool for analysis, to create an effective system for monitoring, warning and combating these movements. Bobkov told me that he analyzed the situation and gave an analysis of the Jews, but the Central Committee did not accept his proposal. He, of course, analyzed everything else, but the situation with the Jews was more relevant. He said: “If this department had been created earlier, it would have been possible to identify the mistakes made in advance and give recommendations on how to prevent the development of the situation that began to develop in 1967.” One of the first cases that was put on his desk was my case. When I started talking to him, he was surprised: “Do you speak Russian?” - "Yes". - “You can’t tell by your last name, Kedmi.” - “You know me under a different name.” - "Which?". I told him, well, here he is... - “Yes... I remember your case. This was one of the first things that was put on my table. So it’s you!”

What happened? If I was just from the street, if there was nothing behind me and there was no case with the KGB, then the decision would be simple - police, 15 days - stay in jail. The reaction would have been purely police. But it turned out that the KGB had a file on me, a big deal. How do I know it was a big deal? When I left, they returned my Israeli entry permit, which I had attached to my exit application at the time. On it in the corner was the serial number of the page under which it was filed in the file - number 104. That is. before that there were still 103 pages. Since there was a case, the police could not do anything until the case manager at the KGB told him what to do. Secondly, since this was a breakthrough into the embassy, ​​the second department also had to react somehow - maybe I was a spy or an agent.

– Did they admit that spies were breaking into embassies like this, like hooligans, or is this just some kind of routine?

- First of all, it happens. Pollard is still in prison. Three departments had to deal with my case: those involved in the physical protection of foreign missions - to find out who it was and what happened; counterintelligence - check according to your criteria; fifth control - check on your own. Each of these three departments had to coordinate with the others, get their attitude and lack of objections, and for now sit down. Well, I sat there.

– Who concentrated all this information?

- The one whose client I was. Overall, I was a client of the fifth department. The second one checked - it doesn’t appear, it’s not ours. My actions were in the field of view of the fifth directorate. They kept me for about five hours and released me, without doing anything.

– You were lucky, maybe because you were the first such case?

– I think not. There was a confluence of several circumstances. In parallel with this whole game, I met with Pavlik Litvinov and Petya Yakir. I visited Petya’s house three or four times, saw his mother, and, as usual, we drank vodka and ate cutlets, which he loved very much. I didn't think we had to coordinate our actions in any way. “For you, what is happening to us,” I told them, “is part of the problem of the state structure and legislative framework of your country. That is, you must be aware... this is your concern. But your problems are not mine. I don’t want and have no right to interfere in what’s happening in your country.”

– Do you think that contacts with Democrats were good for you?

- I think so.

– The alliance between Zionists and dissidents is a double threat for the authorities. What good is this for a Zionist?

– Why was it good? They saw that I did not participate in any of their actions. Only once was I present in the courthouse (but not at the trial itself) in the Galanskov case, and they took my photograph there. I think they understood that I just wanted to show that they knew me... That is, it was impossible to arrest me without it becoming known. And if it was known, then the question arose of who would react to it and how. That is, an additional element appeared, which, of course, did not cancel the forceful solution, but complicated its application. After I submitted my renunciation of citizenship, I began to expand my connections.

On June 11, after visiting the American embassy, ​​I was released. A week or two later, when it became known that the Dutch were representing Israeli interests, I went to the Dutch embassy. The first time I broke through, it was easy, but after that it was normal. At the Dutch embassy I met with the consul and asked him to convey my appeal to the Israeli Knesset. I explained to him that since I had renounced Soviet citizenship and now had no citizenship, I was asking to be granted Israeli citizenship. I thought that if in the Union the Supreme Council deals with citizenship issues, then in Israel, by analogy, this should be dealt with by the parliament. A month later, I was informed that my request could not be granted because Israel does not grant citizenship to Jews abroad.

- Ordinary things. I continued to study and work. They called me again... the conversation took place at the OVIR office. The same comrades in civilian clothes were talking. They repeated that I was denied permission to leave, and then they began to threaten me. They said that normal people do not renounce their citizenship and that I could be sent either to an insane asylum or to another equally pleasant place. I tell them: “The power is yours. If you think you can do it, do it. You try this remedy, I will try my remedies.” They say: “What will happen if we take you into the army?” “What do I have to do with your army? - I say. – I renounced my citizenship. There is only one army in the world in which I am willing to serve, and that is the Israeli army.” “What if tomorrow there is a war with China?” – at this time tensions were just beginning in Damansky, on the border with China. “I sympathize with you very much,” I say, “but these are your problems, what do I have to do with it?” - “Aren’t you going to join the army?” - “We won’t fight the Chinese for you.”

– You studied by correspondence. They could easily shave you...

– Then there was a law that exempted people from service even in evening and correspondence studies. True, according to this law, exemption from the army was valid until the moment the student transferred from his institute to another institute. I didn’t know this then. At one time, I wrote a statement asking to leave the Komsomol in connection with renouncing citizenship and leaving for Israel. I was expelled at a general meeting and was informed about this at my place of work and study. When they informed the institute, I had just passed the exam in the first part of political economy. They explained to me that I would no longer be able to pass the second part of political economy. They said directly: “Either you leave on your own, or we will fail you in the exams.” The Soviet government took great care to make everything look fair and cultural. Then I applied to the Polytechnic Institute for the correspondence course. I was accepted, everything is fine. I didn't know that from that moment on I could be drafted. When they sent me a summons from the military registration and enlistment office, I told them: “What are you talking about, I’m studying,” and they told me: “This is the law.” I said, “Okay,” and didn’t go. I didn’t go once, I didn’t go the second time...

– Did you have a feeling that you would break through?

“I had a feeling that what will happen will happen.” Let's start the game and it's on. Here something completely unexpected played out for me. August 1968. The Union sent troops into Czechoslovakia. How did this affect my destiny? They delayed demobilization, but began another mobilization. And they had more people in their army than the army was ready to accept. As a result, in September, after I received the third summons, the recruitment was cancelled.

– And you stubbornly didn’t follow the subpoenas?

- No. I warned the house - I won’t go. Don’t take it, don’t sign, nothing...

– Did your parents try to influence you?

– We tried, but it was useless.

– Did you try to put pressure on your parents? They can...

- No. Then my dad told me that they talked to him. He told them: “This is your school, your upbringing. I don’t want to, I’m not going anywhere, I’m working”... The conscription was canceled, all matters aside.

- Well, if the KGB decided to put you in the army, no abolition of conscription would help you...

- But this is bureaucracy. These people think the machine is working. There is no curator sitting there who deals only with my business every day. Agreed - everything! Does the army take it? Beret. Does he send him subpoenas? Sends. When he comes, we will settle accounts with him. Suddenly they postpone the fall recruitment to the spring of 1969, and in December they publish my letter in the Washington Post. This was not easy either. They said “this can’t happen!” Nehemiah Levanon, who was Nativ's representative in the United States, talked to them and convinced them. He said: “We checked, we know...” It took him 2-3 months to convince the newspaper, and in December this letter was published.

– This became your permission?!

– On December 31, I had an attack of appendicitis, I was operated on. The next morning my mother came and told me that the father of a guy we knew was listening to “The Voice of Israel” in Yiddish, and they mentioned my name and some letter. "What does it mean?" - asks. I say: “This means that I will go to the East... to the Near or to the Far.”

– In Israel it was published as a reprint from the Washington Post. I returned from the hospital, went down to get the newspaper, and there was an envelope with an invitation to the OVIR. I went, of course. The conversation was interesting. "Where is parents? Come back in a week with dad and mom. We give you permission to leave, sit down and fill out the form.” I had never filled out any form before. I looked in surprise. The captain smiled and replied: “Okay. No need. We have everything".

- Why parents?

- Young guy... A week later I came with my parents. “Sign that you agree.” They signed, of course. To me: “Come back in two days, you will receive a visa.” They give me only two weeks to get ready, mom and dad are shocked: in two weeks they won’t see their son again. Two days later I receive a visa, and the OVIR officer tells me: “You will never come to the Soviet Union again.” - “I’ll survive.” He: “I warn you to behave normally and not make anti-Soviet statements. We apologize for taking so long to consider your request. Understand, this is an extraordinary case, you have not finished studying yet, you are going to a capitalist country, we weighed all this only based on concern for your future. We believe that your decision is wrong, but if you insist on it, then please.” I say, “Okay, thank you. This country doesn't interest me. But if there are any actions against my parents..."

– Have you identified only this topic?

- Yes. When I came to the Dutch embassy for an entry visa, they told me: “You are the first time we have issued a visa to a Moscow resident.”

– Why did they believe that Israel was a capitalist country? Israel was very socialist at that time.

– By their standards, it was a capitalist country, since it belonged to the capitalist camp, supported the United States, starting with the Korean War, and for the Soviets everything was clear.

– Did you leave earlier than Slovina and Sperling?

- No, they left several months before me. They left Riga. They had direct relatives in Israel. During one of his visits to OVIR in August 1968<,>the head of the Moscow OVIR told me: “Don’t think about it, but only now has a decision been made that all those who received permits and did not leave due to the Six-Day War will be able to leave. This, however, does not apply to you.” I realized that changes were coming. I went to the Dutch embassy and said: “Tell Israel that a decision has been made and people who previously received permits will come to you.” - "Can't be". - “Pass it on.” And the ice broke. Those who were stopped in June '67, in accordance with the decision made in August '68, in September already began to receive summonses to the OVIR.

- You're absolutely right. In his book on Jewish emigration, Boris Morozov cites the secret appeal of Andropov and Gromyko to the Central Committee with a proposal to resume Jewish emigration to the limit of 1,500 people per year. This document is dated June 10, 1968. The proposal was accepted.

– Why Andropov and Gromyko? This was Bobkov's recommendation. Andropov accepted it and voiced it. Many of Bobkov's recommendations were not accepted. Dov Sperling and Lea Slovina arrived in October and November. They were given permission because they had direct relatives. When I came to the embassy for a visa, they asked me: “Do you need a hotel?” I say: “No, just a plane ticket.” - “Why don’t you need a hotel?” - “I live at home.” - “So you are a Muscovite?” - "Yes". “You are the first time we have received permission to leave Moscow.”

– Did you pay for leaving and renouncing citizenship then?

– With citizenship, they granted my request. At that time, no money was taken to satisfy such requests. They said that I had to pay 20 or 30 rubles for the visa. I quit my job and received my paycheck. I then worked at a factory as a concrete and reinforcement worker, and received three times more than at a research institute. I had enough money to pay and, on top of that, I gave them 90 rubles and received 130 dollars.

– I don’t really understand how it was possible to work at a factory, study at the institute’s correspondence department and still have time to do everything you did to leave?

- Why not? Shift work.

– Did you somehow prepare for leaving, did you study Hebrew?

– I learned Hebrew on my own using the Mori textbook. When I arrived, I could explain myself, I spoke at the airport, on the street. The reception procedure was as follows: everyone gets off the plane and goes to passport control. There they are met by a representative of the Council or the Ministry of Absorption, taken to a house outside the airport, and there they are issued a “teudat ole” (new repatriate’s certificate) and everything else.

– Even then there was such a practice that there were representatives of the Sokhnut and representatives of the Ministry of Absorption?

– I don’t know exactly who was there, but representatives of the ministry were definitely there, because the Ministry of Absorption had already been created. What happened there? Everyone gets up, new immigrants don’t know where to go, they huddle together. I go with all the Israelis, I go to passport control, there is a policeman there, I give him my ID, the whole conversation is in Hebrew, he lets me through, I go out to Israel. Nobody here. I ask where are the “representatives”? But they are not there. In the end I had to go back and it took half an hour. The “representatives” were in a panic because they had lost me. In those days, everything was decided by the comrades from the office. They decided to send me to Kibbutz Revivim. I got into a taxi - then we were transported by taxi, we were going to Revivim. We drove through almost all of Israel, Beer Sheva, and arrived in Revivim, at the kibbutz secretariat. There they tell me: “They called from Tel Aviv, they are sending you to another ulpan - to Karmiel.” It's in the north. We get into a taxi, go back, arrive in Tel Aviv, they tell me - “Karmiel”. They let me spend the night in Tel Aviv, and in the morning I left for Karmiel. There I spent three months in the ulpan, then went to the Technion to finish my education.

– Did Lishka try to discuss some issues with you?

- We tried. Yaka Yanai called me, I had a conversation with Shaul Avigur, who was then the head of Nativ. Nehemiah came later and talked to him too... talked to everyone. I told them everything I knew and what I thought. I was warned not to give interviews to anyone, because it is forbidden to disclose that there is aliyah from the Soviet Union. This is a state secret. I asked: “From whom? Because the Soviet Union knows." “The Arabs cannot let them know, otherwise they will put pressure on the Soviet Union and aliyah will stop.” This was the point of view then.

– Were there sufficient grounds for such secrecy?

- Did not have. I then looked at all these documents. The Arabs debated the issue and sometimes raised it with the Soviets. Not in 1969, later. But the Soviet Union had a good argument in relation to the Arabs. Firstly, there was an insignificant number of those leaving: humanitarian cases, close relatives, most of them were not liable for military service, the elderly and those without higher education. Secondly, Arab countries could not make claims against the Soviet Union, since several hundred thousand people, who by that time made up the bulk of the country’s population, came to Israel from the Arab countries themselves. I remember I had just arrived, and a journalist from the Haaretz newspaper rolled up to me...

– Despite Lishka’s ban*?

“I didn’t really tell him anything.” He wrote that the interview was taken with a guy who had recently arrived from Moscow, and that permission was given after initially being refused. No more details. The entire interview was about what was happening in the Soviet Union. Whether Jews want to go or not, what are the moods in general and what are the moods of young people. But I didn’t give them any details about myself. They called from Lishka: “You have no right to give an interview, you were warned!” Lishka did not allow this interview to be published.

– Did they find out that you gave the interview before it went to print?

- Certainly. Nativ was one of the few organizations with censorship rights. Later, while working at Nativ, I was also responsible for censorship. I could have demanded that any article be prohibited from being published, that any mail, or any person be examined.

– Before submitting an article for publication, were journalists obliged to submit it to Lishka for censorship?

– According to Israeli law and by special order, everything related to aliyah from the countries of the socialist camp and the Soviet Union had to be censored. When the censor received an article on this topic, he immediately transferred it to Nativ. Shulamit Aloni broke the strict censorship. Or rather, she added the last straw. There was a question about some refuseniks, and we wanted to give a message to the newspaper. Shula voiced this from the Knesset rostrum. She spoke out against censorship. Golda got angry with her and then moved her from her real place on the party list for the elections to some sixty. Shula spat, went out and organized her own party.

– What happened then?

– Rumors leaked out, and they began to invite me to perform at kibbutzim. I was introduced to Geula Cohen, then a journalist at Maariv. By that time, fermentation had begun among those who arrived. Mostly these were guys from Riga. On the one hand, they were of a beitarist orientation, on the other hand, like all those who arrived, they were faced with socialist manifestations of the insanity of the authorities. Meetings began with political figures - both. They also introduced me to this. I differed from them in that I was not from the Baltic states, that is, I was not raised in a Jewish atmosphere and on the ideas of Zionism. In addition, I was then the only one who could provide evidence that it was possible to fight for departure and achieve this. When they suggested something, they were usually objected to: “What are you talking about? You yourself sat quietly, without noise, submitted documents and left without putting yourself in danger, and now you are proposing to put other people in danger.” Nobody could tell me this. I was saying the same things they were saying, but it had a completely different weight.

“It cannot be said that they sat quietly and did not take risks. They published newspapers, Hebrew textbooks, books and magazines, distributed samizdat...

- It's all good. But they tried not to cross a certain line, and they were told: “You weren’t taking any risks.”

– Yes, you took a risk... and found a sensitive point in the regime. No one has tried this before you.

– People often asked me: “It’s not clear. The Soviet Union crushed Czechoslovakia, without taking into account public opinion, and at the same time it allowed you to leave, taking into account this public opinion? They were able to break the whole world, they were able to bring an entire country to its knees, but they couldn’t cope with some boy in Moscow? Where is the logic?" I tried to explain that there is logic, that these are different things, different problems and... different public opinions. I'm not even talking about different forms of solutions.

– Internationally, Jews were inconvenient for them. They just wanted to leave, but they had to either be imprisoned in front of the whole world, or let them go.

“I said: I should have either been tried or released. Having created so many obstacles for the trial, they apparently decided that there would be more damage if judged. They saw how Galanskov's trial went, how the dissidents' trials went. It is impossible to take me without a trace after I have left everything behind everywhere. To have an open or semi-open process, as they did, was to draw the attention of Jewish America to the problems of Soviet Jews, attention that did not yet exist at that time. This meant raising the issue in the most uncomfortable light. What is the case? For what? Because I asked to leave? This means announcing to the whole world that there are young people who want to leave, and they are not allowed. This is not Sharansky’s business, it is not a matter of transmitting information, this is not related to the dissemination of any literature. Nothing. That is, there was nothing to cling to, and creating an artificial business with the system of connections and fame that they already knew about was unprofitable. I figured that when they weighed everything, they would come to the right conclusion.

– Have you analyzed all your actions and possible consequences?

- All the time. That's why I tried to make them notice my contacts. If I went to talk to Petya Yakir, it was only because of this. I knew that they were recording all this. Or with Pavlik Litvinov...

– You appeared quite often with Slovina and Sperling. Do you have a group?

- What happened? These guys are on their own. They were older, they had leadership and political ambitions. I haven't played this game. We made a general decision not to join any political party, so as not to give our actions a political overtone. At that time, society's attitude towards us quickly became divided. The part that supported us consisted of supporters of Herut * who were in opposition to the government, and those who purely humanly sympathized with us: Zevulun Hammer, Ben Meir and even Shulamit Aloni. The second part consisted of people who condemned our actions based on party interests or socialist ideology. And they were mainly grouped around Lishka.

– Some activists argued that this second part was against aliyah.

“One day Zvi Netzer met me and said: “You came to Israel. How can you oppose our policies? You are speaking against the state.” I was angry with him: “Are you the state? You are not a state yet.” They were, of course, not against aliyah. They were against open struggle, against escalating the conflict with the Soviet Union. They were not ready... They did not understand the Soviet Union, they looked at it from the outside, and they did not understand the Jews of the Soviet Union.

– Levanon writes in his book that at first the “Lishkovites” wanted to take Jews out of the Union illegally.

– It was and it worked. After the war there was chaos for some time. People were illegally transferred across the border; hundreds of people were taken out in this way. But at the same time, many were imprisoned and died in camps. Yaka Yanay, who later worked in Nativ, is from this group. They took him, he served his time, got out and managed to leave. Mulik Ioffe brought one shipment to Italy, returned for another, and was arrested. He later died in the camp. Many were arrested and many died.

– Let's go back to 1969, when you and Sperling decided to go to the States.

- What happened? We dated quite a lot. At a meeting with a group of officers, I met Arik Sharon, then I met Yitzhak Shamir, I was at his house - a small, modest two-room apartment on the second floor. Geula once suggested that we meet with an American. His name was Bernie Deutch. We told him what we told everyone else. He was so shocked that he was eager to introduce this to the Jews of the United States. He began to prepare the trip and negotiate with Jewish organizations in the States. Nehemia found out about this and turned to Begin, the head of the right-wing opposition, to try to dissuade us from going.

– Levanon himself would hardly be able to persuade you. He came from the rear and convinced Begin - wisely.

– We must pay tribute to Nehemiah Levanon. He was a politically wise man, maintained relations with Begin, met with him from time to time and told him, as the leader of the opposition, what was happening. What he wanted to tell. Begin was always flattered by this. Nehemiah did this when Golda was at the head of the government, although we must not forget that in 1967 Begin was a minister. Nehemia calculated correctly, and this helped him when Begin came to power.

- Begin left him as head of Nativ...

“But in the end Begin said that he cannot, has no right to prohibit us. People broke out of the Soviet Union, and how could he come and tell them “no”. This did not correspond to his understanding of the role of a Western leader. And off we went. In the United States, Lischka's representative was Yoram Dinstein. Yoram received instructions from Zvi Netzer, who was at the head of Bar*. At Netzer's direction, Yoram contacted all Jewish and non-Jewish organizations with which meetings were organized. On behalf of the Israeli government, he asked not to meet with us, because one of us is probably a spy, and the other is a provocateur, or vice versa. The Jewish organizations almost all obeyed, but the non-Jewish organizations did not. I remember how we gave an interview to a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper. He said: “I don’t understand how the Israeli embassy could say that about you.”

– Did you already know about this then?

- He told us after the interview that they called him from the embassy and told him - so and so. “How could they say that? What you say is the most valuable thing that needs to be made public.”

– How did the embassy find out that you were supposed to meet with this correspondent?

– I don’t know that anymore. Fact, they knew and reacted. They also knew that we had to meet with representatives of Congress. Only non-Jews came to this meeting. Not a single invited Jew came. Israel said! After we returned, Sperling wrote a good article in Maariv about how we were interfered with and why. I wanted to sue.

- To Lishka?

– The head of “Bar” in Israel and his representative in the States. But Geula Cohen dissuaded me... When we returned from the States, my parents were already in denial. After the speech in the Knesset by Shulamit Aloni and the others, censorship in Israel relaxed a little. Then Geula says: “Let me interview you.” I agreed.

– Before this, journalists could not interview you?

- We couldn’t print it. Geula gave me a long interview and sent me for censorship. The censorship left about 20 percent: “This will anger the Soviet Union, this will strain relations.” In addition, the censor demanded that the interview be presented as if it had not been taken in Israel and that my name not be mentioned. Geula did not agree with his decision and started a scandal. In a conversation with Golda Meir, Geula threatened her with filing a lawsuit in the High Court of Justice. After some struggle, almost everything was allowed to be interviewed. It was large and published in two Friday issues, and it made a strong impression in Israel. There was everything that I am telling you now, and it was about the situation in the USSR and about the desire and struggle of Jews to leave for Israel. Then Bernie Deutch, who arranged for us to travel to the States, translated this interview into English and distributed it there.

– What did you say about the mood among Jews in the Union?

– I said that there are Jewish youth who do not have any Jewish upbringing and who want to leave. Israel for them is the whole meaning of their life. These youth do not accept communism, and they are ready to fight for their exit. Not all young people, but quite a lot. That activists demand an open and more active struggle, are not afraid of aggravating relations with the authorities, and do not pay attention to how their struggle may affect the ideas of socialism. I said that it was possible to fight the Soviet Union, that it was sensitive and susceptible to the pressure of public opinion. Ordinary, trivial things we knew.

– Did you speak on behalf of Soviet Jews?

- No, I was talking about what I know.

– Yasha, but you yourself knew few such people.

– Not much, but it was enough to see how many people came to the synagogue for Simchat Torah. An unprecedented number! It was enough to see what kind of youth there was. They were ready to do more. The only thing they lacked was the support of Israel and the West. I said: “Your support gives them security. And my example shows this. If they are confident in your support, they will move on. They will do what they don’t dare to do today, not because they don’t want to, but because you don’t support them.”

– As you yourself said, the Lishkovites saw the Union from the outside. And from the outside, it looked like a mighty superpower that defeated Nazism and subjugated half of Europe. The Soviet Union then instilled fear not only in Israel, the entire West trembled.

- That's how it was.

– Were the Lishkovites really that afraid of the Soviet Union?

“Some of them are still afraid.

– And in your opinion, there were good reasons for fear?

– It was a pathological fear, especially among those who became acquainted with the Soviet Union or served time in Soviet prisons. In Poland it was not just fear. It was terrible. Centuries old! Most Jews in Israel came from Poland. The Polish attitude towards Russia was in their blood.

– That is, the position of the Israeli establishment was explained not by the similarity of ideologies, the desire to somehow persuade, please, come to an agreement, but by fear of the unpredictable cruelty of a huge country?

– This was explained to others as well. Indirectly, this could have a negative impact on the ideas of Israeli socialism. They were less interested in socialism in Russia, and more in how it would affect themselves. This could have a negative impact on their socialist position in Israel. With regard to emigration problems, they tried to solve everything using quiet diplomacy and were terribly afraid of angering them.

– Fear of Russia for the fate of the state or fear that Russia will deal with its Jews?

– No, no, in this case they were afraid that it would have a bad effect on Soviet Jews.

– Nativ’s first operations in the Union led to the arrests of a large number of people with whom they were in contact...

“That’s what scared me.” In addition, some of Nativ’s employees were previously in Soviet prisons. Joseph Meller, for example. Look... - forceful interrogations, treatment in the camp, when a person is lowered to an inhuman level, affect his psychology. This trauma accompanies him for the rest of his life.

– But Begin also went through the Soviet camp...

“And he stayed with it for the rest of his life.” When such a person sees something like this in front of him again, he experiences physical fear. It's almost in the blood. They had a pathological fear of the power of this country, the belief that it could do anything, that nothing could stop it, that it was impossible to fight it. They believed that they had to negotiate with her somehow.

- And you?

“And we said: “First hit me in the face, and then negotiate.”

“They were completely sincere in their approach.

“They were sincerely afraid.” They sincerely believed.

– Do you think that their fears and concerns were clearly exaggerated?

– Look, each of us has fears and concerns. But for them this was multiplied by ignorance and misunderstanding of Soviet reality, by ignorance and misunderstanding of Soviet Jews.

– Do you mean that they did not understand the Jews who were formed during the years of Soviet power, that they only knew the Jews of the “shtetl”, the Pale of Settlement?

– Not even the Jews of the shtetl. They knew the Jews of Riga. They did not know the Jews of the Soviet Union, the Jews of Russia, Ukraine, Moscow. They did not understand how a Jew who did not go to Hebrew school and does not speak Yiddish could be so devoted to Israel. Where does it come from? His mother didn’t teach him this, he didn’t go to cheder, his dad didn’t raise him like that...

“They apparently still don’t understand this.” How many who graduated from the Jewish school here left Israel!

- Well, yes. This is a general lack of understanding of what is happening to the Jewish people in Israel, a lack of understanding of what the essence of Jewry and Jewish identity is at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century. In this case, all this was manifested to the greatest extent. It was not a reluctance for the Jews of the Soviet Union to come. They simply didn't believe it. No one thought about a big aliyah at that time. When the people of Nativ discussed this problem among themselves, they estimated the potential for aliyah to be several thousand people - at best. Nobody used terms like “big aliyah” back then.

– At one time, the Union set a strict condition for the Israeli leadership: the Middle East separately, Soviet Jews separately, do not touch them.

– Yes... Nativ’s people did not fully understand the situation. They thought that they could explain to the Soviet Union: “We are so small, we don’t want anything, we are not fighting against the USSR, well, give us a few Jews, whatever it costs you, because you are so big, you are so rich, you have so many people. We don't want much." This is typical shop psychology. They did not understand that the Soviet Union did not need to explain anything. He understood better than them what it was. He understood better than they did what the Jews of the Soviet Union were and the dangers of their leaving. In his opinion, the Soviet government made its first mistake when in 1949 it did not release the bulk of former members of Zionist organizations and Jews from the Baltic republics who had direct relatives in Israel. What could have arisen without them, Bobkov believed, would have been much smaller and weaker, and it would have been easier to deal with it without resorting to harsh methods.

- Let's get back to your trip to the States.

– When we were in the States, my parents were already in prison, and I wanted to stay after the trip and go on a hunger strike so that they would be released. But both Geula and Bernie explained that I could not do this, because under my visa to the States they had given an undertaking to the American authorities: neither I nor Dov Sperling would organize any political demonstrations. When we returned to Israel, my friends promised me that they would organize another trip when and if necessary. And just then an article appeared in the Izvestia newspaper, in which the pope was attacked for some kind of demonstration, some kind of action.

– Has he already begun to operate in the Union?

- Yes. He had already fallen into line, there were already other refuseniks, he had already met with them. One day my dad called me, and I told him: “Go to Smirnov, the head of the OVIR, give him greetings from me and tell him that if the interests of his state are dear to him, don’t be foolish and let you leave. I warned him." He went, came back, called and said: “I was there, I was talking - refusal.” I say: "Okay." When the publication was published in the newspaper, Geula called me and said: “Yasha, your dad was attacked, it was written about in the Western press.” I say: “This could be preparation for an arrest.” - “Do you want to go?” - “Yes, I want to go, I need to forestall their next step.” We got organized, I got a visa again, this time without any difficulties.

– Did you already know that you would go on hunger strike near the UN?

– I already knew how and where, but I still didn’t know the exact place. I arrived and it began...

– Haven’t Jews carried out such actions in the States yet?

- Well, it was carried out... by some Jewish hooligans, because of some Jews in the Soviet Union. Who said that Jews want to go? Who said there was a problem? Yesterday they beat blacks, now this! The hunger strike gave everyone the impression of a bomb exploding.

– Has she attracted public attention?

– The first day, the second day – not so much. It started on the third day, and then they knocked it down.

“Did you live right there on the street?”

– Yes, 24 hours a day.

- And the toilet, eh...

– They rented a minibus with a toilet for me ( in the States it's called a "mobile home" –Yu.K.), and I used it.

– Where did this happen?

– Ishiyahu Wall, just opposite the UN.

– When did this happen?

– In March-April 1970. On the third day, organizations began to arrive.

– Lishka was, of course, against it?

“Of course, but I couldn’t do anything.”

– When did they change their attitude?

– While I was on a hunger strike in New York, a demonstration took place near the Knesset. It was organized by the Israeli Students Union, with whom I also had connections. One of the leaders of the union was Yona Yagav, who later became the mayor of Haifa. This is a telling story. At one time, he organized speeches for us in front of Technion students. After that, Zvi Netzer from Lishka called him and began to threaten: “I will put you in prison!” Zvi Netzer did not understand that Israel is not Poland. Yona Yagav is a paratrooper officer, after the Six-Day War the paratroopers had a special aura of glory, and then someone says this to him! Jonah exploded. He organized a student demonstration outside the Knesset, and everyone spoke there: Zevulun Hammer, Geula Cohen and Shulamit Aloni. Students were gathered from all over Israel for the demonstration near the Knesset - there were a lot of people. The political figures with whom we had previously met arrived. And Golda ( Meir, head of government. – Yu.K.) at a government meeting stated: “I can’t take it anymore, this guy broke me, we can’t stay on the sidelines, we have to help.” When the second week of the hunger strike began, the noise began to get really serious: I no longer had time to rest, because people were pouring in.

– And all the time there are articles in newspapers?

- And in newspapers, and on television, and all radio stations...

“And the Union began to understand that your dad was costing them too much!”

- They came from their embassy and found out - how, what, what rights? I tell them: “What’s the problem? You see, I’m still alive, but they won’t let my parents out, what’s even simpler?”

– But did you see it wider than just your parents’ graduation?

“I had it written: “Release my family, release my people.” From a purely PR point of view, this was perfect, because the Soviets had nothing to say. Are Jews not allowed out? They don't let me out. Here's a good example. The boy who had been trying for two years was released. Now his parents are being held. What's the matter? You can’t say that everything is fine with you leaving, but I can tell you dozens and hundreds of families like mine - they want to leave and cannot. What can you say to this? The effect was amazing. There has been a turning point in Israeli public opinion.

– Golda began to understand that the invasion of Czechoslovakia– this is one thing, but the departure of Jews– This is completely different?

“She no longer had a choice.” The pressure and noise around the hunger strike was such that “innocence” was lost. They understood this, well, to hell with it. Tekoa, the Israeli representative to the UN, approached me...

- On Golda's orders?

- Yes. Then he spoke with Secretary General U Thant, and U Thant spoke with the Soviet representative at the UN. Tekoa told me, “I just spoke to U Thant. He said that the Soviets promised to release your parents, but you must stop your hunger strike. They can’t announce it publicly now, under pressure.” I also had reasons why I could no longer stay. The hunger strike was followed by a tragedy that was extremely painful for me personally. When I first started my hunger strike, I was informed that my girlfriend in Israel had been in a car accident, seriously injured, and I had to return. Before I boarded the plane, they managed to tell me that she had died. I returned and, after mourning, came back to the States. That is, if she had been alive, I would not have stopped the hunger strike. But her death, of course, broke everything greatly.

- How many days did you fast?

- Nine. Overall a useful thing, I lost six kilograms.

– Were the parents released quickly?

“After that, dad was called to the OVIR. The head of the OVIR says to him: “Why did Yasha do this to us?” And dad: “He warned you.” This was in April. Already in December they were informed that they would leave, and in January they were in Israel.

– And if your parents weren’t allowed to leave, would you be ready to repeat it?

“You see, there was no point in not allowing them to leave, but I achieved the main thing at that time - I protected them. After what happened, they could no longer be touched. All. The security guarantee was complete.

– Has the attitude of American organizations also changed since then?

– Firstly, new organizations have emerged, and secondly, student and other organizations have become more active. The Leningrad process became a new explosion that took this struggle to a higher level.

– Have you ever met Meir Kahane?

– Yes, in 1969, when Dov Sperling and I first came to America. We were in his office. Then he was still a quiet, calm guy.

– Was he already the head of the League?

- Yes, but then they were still doing “little things” - organizing demonstrations, throwing stones at windows, hitting blacks in the face, blacks hitting them...

– And after they joined the fight for Soviet Jews?

“Then they played a positive role.” They were among the first to attract widespread attention to the problem, sharpening it to the point of provocation. They went beyond quiet diplomacy, and that was important.

– After all, the logic that the establishment followed was the same logic of behind-the-scenes diplomacy with a minimum of noise, which they wanted to impose on the West and which the Soviet Union itself followed. “League for the Defense of Jews”, “Union of Soviets”, “Students” - did not play according to this logic. They found very sensitive points of the Soviet regime and hit them without fear or reproach.

“Both sides were right.” Nehemiah Levanon's mission was to mobilize Jewish and non-Jewish public opinion. But Nativ avoided open struggle, publicity and mass participation in every possible way. He proceeded from the fact that quiet diplomacy in those conditions was more successful, while open struggle could endanger Soviet Jews and their emigration. People who disagreed with the doctrine of “quiet diplomacy”, as well as those who left the establishment for other reasons, joined opposition organizations.

The truth is that the movement in support of Soviet Jews was launched under the leadership and support of the Israeli government and the government body it specially created for this purpose. But the policy they followed was not entirely correct, and the implementation of this policy caused a lot of damage in the initial period.

– The Union initially had the hope of tying Israel to its chariot like the Eastern European countries. There was even a plan to send suitably trained Jewish officers there. But they very quickly realized that this would not work with Israel.

– They calculated correctly the question of whether it is possible to turn Israel into a communist state and tie it ideologically to the Union – this will not lead to success. Why? Because the Israeli state, the Israeli establishment was so tied to American and Jewish capital outside of Israel that it was almost impossible to break it, and this inevitably had to play a role. Secondly, the Soviets had no confidence in the ideological strength of the Jewish cadres, in their devotion to the Soviet communist ideology, and, I would add, these were reasonable doubts. Thirdly, Israel's support for the Americans in the Korean War put an end to everything. This was the final nail in the coffin of the idea of ​​using Israel for their own purposes. And then the Soviet Union makes a turn - to hell with Israel, we are more interested in the Arabs. From their point of view, they are right. We do the same.

– How did the epic with Nashira* develop?

- It's a long story. It began in the seventy-first year, when one of the major American donors of the Sokhnut turned to the employees of this organization with a request to help transport his relatives to the States without visiting Israel. In the West, it is customary to respect people who donate money, and the Sokhnut workers, without hesitation, turned to us at Lishka. After consulting, the Lishkovites decided that there was no particular problem in this, so why not do something nice for a respected person?

At that time, literally in two weeks, the representative offices of Hias* and Joint* in Vienna, which had been involved in the emigration of the Jewish population since the war, were supposed to close. In 1971, they gradually accepted Jews from Czechoslovakia, most of whom were not going to Israel. The work was over, there was nothing more to do.

At this time, Lishka asked them to transport one family from the Union to the United States - those same relatives of the wealthy donor. They transported the family and immediately asked to extend their stay in Vienna: what if another family asked.

And so it happened. When the rumor that one family had gone to the States directly spread, another family asked, then another family, then several more... So it all started out of stupidity and short-sightedness.

– Because of Lishka’s stupidity and short-sightedness?

- Of course. I have no complaints about Sokhnut; sponsors and their money are always more important to him - he exists on this money: Sokhnut was not involved in aliyah politics. Lishka determined the policy, she had to think about the consequences, but the Lishkovites did not think.

– Levanonentered into an agreement with Hias?

- No, there was no agreement. Levanon was not able to close the agreement with Khias. All agreements were made at the level of the American government and the Joint, that is, the agreement was with American Jewish organizations. At the same time, it was agreed that representatives of the Sokhnut would be given the opportunity to explain to the noshrim why it was better for them to go to Israel. But Joint and Khias already saw in the flow of noshrim a good opportunity for their financing. The money came from the American government and from U.G.A., the main fund-raising organization in the United States. And these are budgets, staffing, etc.

– Israelcould say that this threatens aliyah.

- So what? Who cared? It is an illusion that international Jewish organizations live only in Israeli interests. Nothing like this. When their interests coincide with Israeli ones, everything is fine; when they do not coincide, their own interests dominate.

– From your point of view, there is a quota– is this an illusion or reality?

– This is, of course, not an illusion. There was always a quota, but it was not strict. During the negotiations between Kissinger and Gromyko, the issue was always about quotas. What does this mean? The number of people leaving can be regulated by the rigidity in accepting documents, the time for their consideration, the issuance of time-indefinite and unmotivated refusals, etc. At the same time, refuseniks were not the most decisive regulator. The Germans also had a quota: they agreed on it, bargained, they also had refusals, but they did not make a fuss.

“But if there was a quota, then the noshrim took the place of the olim in the outgoing stream.

- Of course. The problem was that it was impossible to know with certainty in advance who was going where, and little could be done based on assumptions.

– From your point of view, were the Soviet leaders concerned that so many people were openly violating the conditions of departure they had set?

– From my point of view, no. They even used it to their advantage. They say that conversations about national revival, national movement and historical homeland are fairy tales. We are simply talking about emigration. The Soviets called it the "Israeli Canal Exit." The United States and Israel agreed to this formula. There was also a trip via the German channel. There were special cases. The KGB used this for its operational purposes. In general, this order was more consistent with the interests of the Soviet authorities rather than contrary to them.

– Who was responsible for receiving repatriates in Vienna?

– Abroad, Sokhnut always did this. After several families reached the Americans directly and wrote to Russia about this, new requests of this kind began to appear from time to time. At first this did not cause serious concern. At one time, Israel secured from the United States that repatriates who came to Israel from the Soviet Union had refugee status. The United States allocated between sixty and eighty million dollars a year to help these refugees. The status of refugees with all the ensuing consequences was also extended to Noshrim. The Americans gave this money to the Israeli government, and the government transferred it to the Council, since the Council is a non-governmental organization. Sokhnut transferred the noshrim into the hands of representatives of the Joint and Khias in Italy. Why in Italy? Because in Italy, since the Second World War, there remained a transit point for Jews from Eastern Europe, and there were always representatives of Hias and Joint there, and in the American embassy in Rome there were representatives of American immigration authorities. This is how it happened historically. After the war, Jewish emigration took place by sea, that is, a country with good ports was needed, and Italy was ideal in this sense. The American Embassy in Vienna was not equipped for these purposes. Therefore, Jews from Vienna were sent to Rome. American organizations accepted Soviet Jews with pleasure, since it gave them a means of subsistence. The Austrians were surprised by this turn, but turned a blind eye to it, because they did not want to get involved with the Jews. Starting from 77-78, when it became clear that the entire stream would be overwhelmed by the Neshira, the Israelis came to their senses and began to discuss this topic.

– Were there any representatives of the Liaison Bureau* there?

– There were, there were... This happened out of thoughtlessness, contrary to all laws and logic. The Austrian authorities did not understand why people did not go to Israel if the visa said “Israel”. After the process assumed alarming proportions, they tried to do something, but it was too late. There were too many interested parties in this matter, and Israel turned a blind eye. Back in 1972, political structures began to discuss the issue of how to close the neshira. They raised the issue in Herut, and - what? Its Russian part, led by Leya Slovina, categorically opposed any attempts to prevent the direct departure of Jews with Israeli visas to the United States, believing that this would be a violation of human rights. Under their pressure, Begin also agreed to this. Later, when it became clear that the situation was becoming catastrophic, Yitzhak Rabin wanted to raise this issue with Jewish organizations. He approached Begin for support, but Begin replied that he would prefer to discuss the issue after the elections. And after the elections, when Begin came to power and this question was put before him again, he calmly replied that he needed the support of American Jews on the issue of Judea and Samaria, so he would not enter into conflict with them over non-shira.

– Begin came to power only in 1977.

– Yes, and it was left to chance again. We agreed - because of dementia, that people do not go to Israel because they do not know what it is. Let's, they say, send representatives of the Sokhnut there, and they will carry out explanatory work and persuade people to go to Israel. This system was headed by Leya Slovina. She began to send dozens of envoys to Vienna and Rome. Then other “wise” plans arose - to make a large transit camp near Naples and not allow representatives of Hias there during the first week of the noshrim’s stay there. This week was supposed to be used to brainwash our people. Those who want to go to America after this, let them go. The rest go to Israel. I said then that nothing would come of this, that the noshrim would go to Israel only if they had no other choice.

– Levanontried to play any role in this?

“He tried to raise these issues, but since he did not have the support of the government, and American Jewish organizations refused to cooperate on this issue, he could not do anything. Hias and Joint always dealt with Jews who were not going to Israel. When some of the Jews who came to Israel began to leave Israel, they were also initially dealt with by Hias and Joint in Italy and helped to process their emigration to the United States as refugees. And this despite the fact that they were already leaving Israel.

– Refugees from Israel? Why did the Americans do this?

– At first, under pressure from local Jews. Then the American authorities stopped recognizing refugee status for those who had lived in Israel for more than a year. But this status extended to those leaving the USSR. Representatives of the American administration said: “We know that this is wrong, but we do not want to come into conflict with Jewish organizations. We don't want to be accused of anti-Semitism." People from the administration told me quite calmly: “Protect us from your Jews, and everything will be fine.” But gradually we increased the pressure. We said that it is abnormal when Jewish organizations use funds raised for Israel to help Jews travel to the United States on Israeli visas.

– I attended a speech by a venerable Israeli scientist, who at one time headed the center for the study of Eastern European Jewry. He said that he did not recommend that the government bring to Israelnoshrim for the following reasons: “They can stage extremely unpleasant demonstrations. What will you do if they refuse, for example, to get off the plane?” I don’t remember a case, including during the mass emigration of the early nineties, when any of the Soviet Jews refused to get off the plane. I don't understand this position.

– It’s like that joke about the German professor. He cut off the fly's leg and said: "Run." The fly ran. Then he cut off another paw and said again: “Run.” The fly ran again. So he cut off all her legs. When he told her to “run” after that, she didn’t run. Then an entry appeared in the observation log: “A fly without legs cannot hear.” The same. Nobody seriously discussed this issue, because it meant entering into conflict with American Jewish organizations.

– Which American showed the most persistence?

– Hias, Joint and American NAKRAK ( National advisory community relations advocatory councils. — Yu.K.), which consisted of community representatives, and the communities supported this - they had such a surge of activity! Each organization supported this for its own reasons - economic, political or administrative, but they argued it with the fight for human rights, for freedom of movement. The fight for human rights and freedom of movement suddenly ceased to concern them when aliyah from Ethiopia began. Black Jews couldn’t be allowed into America; they all had to go to Israel. No Joint or Hias was involved in helping them move to America, they were only involved in Israel.

– When Sharansky’s trial began, were you already working at Lishkat-a-kesher*?

– No, I started working there in 1978

– Did Lishka think he was an American spy?

“She didn't think he was a spy.

- Dissident, not ours?

– There were two things. Sharansky was identified as a person who belongs to Sakharov's group, and he was in touch with the correspondents because, compared to others, he spoke English more tolerably.

– In this role, he replaced Alik Goldfarb.

– Yes, since the end of 1974. He was in this role for about two years. Nathan was taken completely by accident. They did not prepare a case against him, but his proximity to Lipavsky played a major role.

– Was there too much concrete evidence against him?

- No no. The prosecution was based on Lipavsky’s testimony, since he lived in the same room with him.

– Lipavsky could testify against many people, since he was a consulting and sometimes treating physician for the Lerners, Slepakovs, Rubins, Ramms and others.

“They were afraid to take Lerner and Levich because of their scientific connections abroad, although initially the authorities were preparing for a trial in this area. They decided to take whoever they had to, and the choice fell on Sharansky. Firstly, Lipavsky had material on him. Secondly, Sharansky was at the intersection of the Jewish and dissident movements, and they hit both at once. Thirdly, Sanya Lipavsky was recruited by the CIA, and he testified about this.

– Was Sanya recruited?

– Yes, despite the fact that he was a KGB agent.

– Was he recruited into the KGB through his father?

– On my father, who was caught in currency transactions.

– Can you say approximately when he was recruited into the KGB?

– I think from the very beginning. He was recruited, and at first he worked in the so-called “tsehoviki” and “currency traders.” Then he was introduced into the Jewish refuse community.

– When did you join the CIA?

- They are idiots. They accidentally landed on him and recruited him. The KGB, out of joy, did not know what to do. It's very rare for your agent to be recruited. But the CIA did not have time to do anything with him. What Nathan was tried for, among other things...if he had been tried in Israel, he would have received 15 years for the same thing. What happened? A person compiles a list of more than a hundred refuseniks, indicates the place and address of their work, deciphers the “mailboxes,” indicates what the enterprises where the refuseniks worked did, and indicates the names of the managers of these enterprises. The idea is great - “We must thereby prevent their international contacts.” Write such a thing in Israel today, and that’s it!.. In any country you can be imprisoned for this. According to Israeli law, this is punishable by 10-15 years in prison.

– What about American ones?

– I’m not that familiar with American laws. But look, in America, a free and democratic country, Wernher von Braun until the end of the seventies could not leave the States even for one day and even to his Germany. All!

“You mean the Soviets had real evidence against him.”

“Purely professionally, my head should have been torn off for this.” The political leadership wanted to give this a political spin. Of all the options that they have left, that is, Lerner cannot be judged, Levich cannot be judged...

– Some believe that there was another option to hit the “culturists.” In December 1976, an international symposium on Jewish culture was supposed to take place, which the authorities dispersed quite harshly, despite the Helsinki process and the opinion of the world scientific community. The organizers were well-known and active refuseniks. There are less than three months between the dispersal of the cultural symposium and the arrest of Sharansky.

“If you take the newspapers and look at the direction they attacked before, you will see where it was going.” The decision was made in the operational department of the fifth directorate of the KGB. They decided. Since the case was at the junction of the fifth and second departments, it was possible to give a different article. “Kulturniki” could be judged under Article 70. Sharansky could have been tried under Articles 64 and 65, that is, for treason and espionage. These articles were based on the testimony of Sanya Lipavsky and the transfer of materials that could be considered within the framework of these articles. Because the Americans took these materials, their legs had to be torn off.

– I wonder who initiated the collection of exactly this information, the Americans or the conscientious objectors? I know that we constantly collected data on refusals, harassment, call lists and transferred this to Israel.

– The Americans and others have repeatedly approached us with a request to give them the opportunity to collect information among refuseniks and activists. And we always told them: “Don’t touch our people, don’t get close to their circles and don’t try to recruit anyone.” And their mouths were watering, and then they couldn’t stand it. That’s why they treat Sharansky the way they do – they are all guns blazing. They were not allowed to take these documents. Todd shouldn't have taken those documents. You understand, transmitting the address of the “mailbox” and the essence of its products is espionage.

– We all wrote information about our place of work in the forms submitted to the OVIR.

– The OVIR indicated only the number of the enterprise, but not its address, products and names of managers. You have no right to disclose this to a foreign country.

– How do you feel about the campaign launched against Sharansky in Israel regarding his trial?

– This is all nonsense of Yulik Nudelman.

– It’s not just Nudelman. This is Kuznetsov, this is Nudel, this is Kislik... There are quite a lot of participants there. I asked Volodya Kislik: “Do you think that he pawned you?” And Volodya Kislik answered me: “Yes, I think so. He named me during the investigation, he said what I was doing, he said that he transmitted my petitions to the West.”

- This is all nonsense. Why? Edik (Kuznetsov) had an excellent relationship with Nathan. If he had known that Nathan was pawning someone, this would not have happened.

– Edik just doesn’t say what he pawned.

- OK. Who's speaking? Yulik Nudelman. How did Nathan behave during the investigation? I saw part of the testimony that relates to the investigation into his case, I saw the case itself. I also arranged his meeting with Putin.

– Have you seen all the case materials?

- I had this on me. I was with him at the FSB when they brought all the case materials. He and I sat for several hours and looked through the tables of contents, noting which documents he wanted to receive. There was no evidence in the sense that he was laying it down. What could he say about Kislik that the KGB did not know? They could ask: “Did you take information from Kislik?” “Yes, I did.” Well, what next? What did he pawn it with?

“They could present to him that he conveyed such and such information about Kislik. And he could answer: “You can check, it’s true.” And then they could come to Kislik and tell him that Sharansky showed that Kislik gave him such and such anti-Soviet information.

– Firstly, this is a KGB technique, and secondly, it does not play any role. This does not mean that he betrayed anyone. He had no one to extradite.

“Some say he simply talked too much during the investigation. It was not customary for us to talk to them. “I don’t know, I don’t remember...” - that’s all.

- OK. Only one person could say this - Edik Kuznetsov, because he knows the rules of conduct during an investigation, political or criminal. Don't confess, don't talk, don't sign, that's it! - no contact. Sharansky might not understand this, might not know. Everyone was talking. I read the cases. Half of those who say this, how did they behave during the investigation?! Only they, the investigator and I know about this. Let them sit and be silent. And he, unlike them, did not repent. He behaved with dignity in court. And most importantly, what did the Soviet government need, why did they agree to it? Having assessed Tolik based on his lifestyle at that time, they came to the conclusion that he was easy to break.

– There is a funny document - an extract from the working record of a Politburo meeting, in other words, the minutes of the meeting for internal use, which, according to the firm conviction of its participants, had no chance of ever seeing the light of day. In this document, Andropov informs members of the Politburo that Sharansky admitted his guilt during the investigation.

– What does “he admits his guilt” mean? He admits the facts, but does not admit guilt. They were sure that they would break it. They thought - a boy from Donetsk, a little whiplash-like, weak for the female sex, a complex, fragile intellectual, without his corner in Moscow, we’ll take him, he’ll sign everything for us. Lipavsky says about this: “What is he? If you punch me in the face, everything will be fine.”

– But it turned out that he is psychologically stronger than them?

– But it turned out that he did not break and behaved with dignity at the trial. And in prison he behaved with dignity. At least the fact that he demanded and received Machzor, tefillin, and everything else in prison.

– They broke Dan Shapiro. He acted like a hero, accused the old refusal of passivity, and then appeared on television, repented, and pawned the activists.

– Specialists who deal with such matters know that the one who screams the most, who behaves more aggressively, is internally weak. Aggression is usually evidence of lack of self-confidence, in one’s abilities, and evidence of fear. Unless a person has an extra chromosome, but we do not consider this case, since this is a pathology. A normal person is aggressive only out of fear, uncertainty and awareness of his own weakness. Here is the one who is the most nervous, take him, put pressure on him, and he will break before anyone else. These are elementary truths.

– But you also behaved very aggressively in the Union. I broke into embassies...

“I did it calmly, consciously. I walked consciously, having calculated what results these actions could lead to. Not to show everyone - look what I’m doing, how brave I am. I didn't have this at all. This made their analysis difficult. I know their assessment of myself.

– What about Kuznetsov’s motives? Jealousy?

- No. The fact that Edik came to the conclusion that he was not there, but here, gave up on everyone, sold him out, and, on the basis of his past, began to create his own political image, acting contrary to all generally accepted ideas about friendship, solidarity, and help - this is Edik right

– Sharansky, apparently, understood earlier than others that politics and friendship are concepts from different areas.

– Edik treated him “according to the concepts” that he had. Sharansky considers himself great, and everyone else as pawns who must serve him. The correspondents always understood what the editors wanted. The editors and society want Sharansky, and they went to create the image of Sharansky, because it is not so much important what the material is, what is important is what is published. Natasha, rightly so on her part, helped build the image of Sharansky in the USA and in the West. And this played a positive role in mobilizing US Jews to fight for the Jews of the USSR. The Americans felt that the stigma was in their hands, they gave it their “push” and were ready for an exchange. After all, more than once or twice they came to them with a complaint: “You started all this, you were told not to touch our people.”

- "Politicians"believed that Israelsupported "culturalin", and the "culturists" believed that the "politicians". I got the feeling that Israel did not support either one or the other. The establishment treated the Union as a reservoir of aliyah and supported only what contributed to its strengthening: Hebrew, Zionist materials, positive information about Israel.

– We ourselves worked a lot with Western politicians. We needed their support in the fight for aliyah. This is in the West. Inside the Soviet Union... - we considered the way the guys from the so-called “political” wing were doing this dangerous, first of all, for themselves, which was confirmed by further developments. Most of their actions were pure window dressing with no real results, or worse. In general, you are right, but, on the other hand, people sit in denial for years, they have to do something, otherwise they can go crazy. We supported those forms of activity that were, on the one hand, less dangerous for refuseniks, and on the other, more effective. An aliyah-oriented culture was both beneficial and less dangerous. As well as a thoughtful, balanced struggle for exit.

– Was the invasion of Afghanistan unexpected or was it somehow calculated in the West?

- Absolutely unexpected. This was unexpected for the Soviet Union itself. Events developed quickly, and the main reason was purely Soviet. If not for Amin's coup in September 1979, there would have been no reason to invade. The revolution happened unexpectedly. Perhaps the CIA had something to do with this, because Amin studied at one time in America. Having come to power, he carried out personal terror: he massacred the entire family of the overthrown Taraki, began to massacre the people of his tribe, and carried out terror among the leadership of Afghanistan. And the Americans couldn’t find anything better than to give him a transport plane. Then the Soviets did some simple calculations and decided that he was a CIA agent and that there was a great danger that he would redirect Afghanistan to the United States.

– When, according to your information, did they begin to curtail emigration – with the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan or earlier?

“They decided on measures to restrict the departure of Jews at the beginning of 79, almost a year before the invasion, and began to implement it in April.

– What happened at the beginning of 79?

- Nothing special. They simply decided that emigration was getting out of control, and if they did not do this, the number of people leaving would become much higher than the level that they considered tolerable.

– In 1979, fifty-one thousand people left.

– If they had not introduced these restrictions, more than a hundred thousand would have left. The potential for emigration was enormous, and it all grew like a snowball.

– Who made the decision?

– I don’t know for sure, but I believe that only the Politburo could make decisions of this kind.

– How, from your point of view, did they manage to do this in such a way that neither Jewish human rights activists, nor we, the refuseniks, nor even you in Lishkat-a-kesher* reacted to this?

– Western human rights activists and Jewish organizations have increasingly personalized their struggle. They were interested in the fate of specific refuseniks and dissidents. What did the Soviet Union come up with in response? In 1979, he gradually introduced rules that created unrealistic refuseniks. How did he do it? He stated that travel would be allowed only to direct relatives. Now there was no need to refuse people. They did not accept documents. They started in Odessa, and then over the course of a year they gradually spread it throughout the Soviet Union, and in each city, in each republic, new rules were introduced at different times. Those whose relatives went to America, and the majority went there, could not submit documents at all, since calls were accepted only from Israel. This broke the chain through which a relative could actually send a call. Therefore, the number of calls began to decrease, and accordingly the number of applicants decreased, and the number of documents accepted for consideration decreased even more. As a result, the number of refusals issued did not increase at the level of the early 80s.

– Have you stopped sending calls not from direct relatives?

– We sent calls from Israel from direct relatives and from indirect relatives, and even from strangers, that is, we still sent them, but these calls were not accepted by the Soviet authorities. It was not possible to focus on this problem, because everything was concentrated on the fight for refuseniks and prisoners of Zion.

– How did Lishkat-a-kesher react to the radical change in the situation?

– She didn’t react at all. She didn’t particularly understand what could and should be done. There are refuseniks - we need to fight for their departure, there are prisoners of Zion - we need to fight for their release... - that's it! As for emigration, they did not understand either its reasons or what to do with it.

– Did the information pressure on the USSR continue?

– It continued, only more cautiously, because repressions began, and they began to fear for the Jews, for the activists. There was no coordination with BAR* inside Lishkat-a-kesher.

– After sending troops into Afghanistan, the authorities began to destroy the organized Jewish movement.

– Correct, because after the deployment of troops they no longer had to take into account the reaction of the West: the reaction to the arrest of this or that dissident had no significance compared to the reaction to the invasion of Afghanistan. Then they began to suppress everything, including the Jewish movement.

– Yes, they began to put pressure on dissidents much more powerfully.

– Jews have never been an independent problem for them, except in the area of ​​emigration. Emigration was also considered in connection with a range of other problems.

– But, despite strong pressure inside, envoys from Lishkat-a-kesher continued to come to the USSR, Israel continued to take an active part in international book fairs, from which activists managed to “steal” thousands of books, a project for teaching Hebrew in peripheral cities continued to work seminars, samizdat was published. Life went on.

- Yes. The work went on, international conferences and demonstrations were held, there were streams of letters, from time to time some conscientious objector was released, and the festival began. Everything is in order. And even the Soviet government was pleased. Do you know why?

- Why?

- There was no departure.

– Yes, the level of emigration dropped below a thousand per year, but the level of repression was still limited to some extent by pressure from the West.

– The USSR authorities worked with the Jewish movement according to the level of sufficiency, that is, they decided to what extent they needed to put pressure on it so that it did not spread and get out of control. But, on the other hand, such fuss was somewhat useful for them, since it diverted the attention of Jewish and Israeli organizations from the problem of emigration and concentrated it on the relatively minor problem of several hundred famous people.

– To what level did they lower the temperature of the Cold War? After all, even during these years, foreign public and political figures came, international conferences were held, and contacts between foreigners and conscientious objectors were allowed.

– But the Cold War initiative did not come from the Soviet Union. This was a Western reaction in which the Soviet Union was not interested. But as the Cold War went on, he tried to respond to it without going beyond certain limits. What did he want? “Leave us alone with Afghanistan, and everything will be fine.” The initiative came from the West, and the Soviet Union is trying to somehow live with it.

– So the West itself regulated the temperature of the Cold War?

– The West itself regulated the degree of reaction, which depended more on what was happening on the military fields of Afghanistan, and gave it one or another political coloring. The Jewish movement also played a role in the confrontation. That is, outwardly everything was fine. Everyone fought for the Jews of the Soviet Union. But how<,>and for what exactly, no one really delved into this.

– What happened to the Helsinki process?

– Who was interested in him?

– According to the format of this process, it was necessary to meet every two years to check compliance...

– Well, we met, discussed, raised questions, published reports, as Amnesty International does today, and scolded the Soviet regime. The Soviet government snapped back. Let off more steam. It became a kind of ritual, similar to the rituals of the Soviet regime, and no one took it seriously except you, the refuseniks and the fighters for human rights in the Soviet Union.

– Did this somehow affect economic relations?

– Trade relations that were beneficial to the West continued. They bought oil.

– What did the USSR department in Nativ, which you headed in the eighties, do?

– Processing all the information that came from the USSR. Receiving, recording, systematization, calculation, analytics. Let's say Kosharovsky: what is he like, what is happening to him, should we send people to him or not, if we send, who exactly and with what message, what to bring besides this, why. Before me, there were no analytics as such in the service. When I wrote my first analytical report, I was asked why I was doing this. “Well, at least for myself,” I say, “I have to understand what all the information that I am accumulating means.” Nehemiah Levanon and his inner circle had a rather poor understanding of what was happening inside the USSR. Somewhere on par with the New York Times. And there were many sources of information: refuseniks, activists, telephone conversations, tourists, envoys, the press, diplomats. But Nativ had not done competent, professional, deep and comprehensive analysis before me and did not understand why it was needed. Everything was concentrated on the fight for refuseniks and prisoners of Zion.

– This is the personification of the problem. This is how the West worked. They needed a specific hero to fight for. Working abstractly was less effective.

“That’s how the West worked, that’s how our office worked, that’s how the Israeli government worked. This was beneficial to everyone, including the Soviet government. Because in reality the Jews did not leave, and this is what was important to them. They, unlike us, thought in state categories. Their problem was to reduce travel, and the KGB did an excellent job with it. What did they pay for it? The Soviet Union lost its innocence in the eyes of the West not only because of the Jews. Before that, he lost it in connection with the trials against dissidents. The Jews, of course, added, but the innocence was already lost. Yes, in Russia they persecute refuseniks, prisoners of Zion, what next?

– How did you begin to enter the Soviet Union during perestroika?

– The Soviet Union has always been concerned about its international image, especially during perestroika. Therefore, we used all the international organizations that participated in any international events in the Soviet Union, and, of course, we used all the Israeli delegations, except for the communists - they did not want to cooperate with us. I remember how we instructed Shulamit Aloni.

– You somehow had to represent your interests in Russia...

- Yes. It happened like this. In the early 1980s, the Soviet Union realized that breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel was a mistake. But they didn't know how to get out of it. Around 1985, the first contacts began between the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union. It began on the initiative of Nimrod Novik and Yossi Beilin after Shimon Peres became Israel's Foreign Minister. All contacts were secret and took place in Europe. In the process of discussing issues of streamlining relations, Soviet representatives asked for our consent to send a Soviet consular group to Israel. We, of course, approved this initiative: it doesn’t matter under what sauce they send this group, the first step towards establishing and strengthening relations was important.

– Why did they need a consular group in Israel?

– A step towards streamlining relationships. They were not immediately ready to establish diplomatic relations because they feared a negative reaction both at home and abroad among their Arab allies. That's why they proposed this form. It was good. They sent their group supposedly to holy places and so on. It is clear that in addition to everything, this was the diplomatic group of the Soviet Union in Israel. Thus, we moved from a complete severance of diplomatic relations to diplomatic contacts at the lowest diplomatic level at the Finnish Embassy. A few months after this, I proposed sending an Israeli consular group to the USSR. The Israeli Foreign Ministry stood up: “Why are you going there?” I justified it. Then Yossi Beilin invited me to put my proposals in writing. I wrote a rationale for the goals and objectives that a consular group in the Soviet Union could undertake. Our Foreign Ministry said that the Soviet Union would not accept this, that this was stupidity.

-What did you write?

- I do not remember exactly. What later became the basis for our work: checking consular work, issuing visas and inspecting the entire process of emigration to Israel. Plus – the problems of people with Israeli citizenship in the Soviet Union. Then the Israeli Foreign Ministry shouted at me: “Do you still want to organize provocations there with those to whom Israel has issued false Israeli citizenship?!” I said, “No, why? There are several dozen Israeli citizens in the Soviet Union who did not lose their citizenship when they came to the Soviet Union for various reasons.”

-Who told you this?

– Everyone spoke, including the head of the Department of Eastern European Countries. Specifically, Zvi Mazel. And not only them. Both the Mossad (Foreign Intelligence Service) and the Shabak (General Security Service) objected to this. Only Yossi Beilin and Nimrod Novik were in favor. They outlined my proposals in a request to the Soviet side: that we, the Israeli diplomatic group, temporarily come to the Soviet Union to work at the Dutch Embassy. I asked to give them the same conditions of stay as the Soviet group at the Finnish Embassy in Israel.

- And that means since 1985...

– No, contacts began in 1985. In 1986, a Soviet group arrived. In 1987, I came up with this initiative. We could have arrived earlier, but the “figures” from the Israeli Foreign Ministry could not form a delegation for six months. They didn’t know who to send, and so we arrived later - in July 1988.

– As far as I remember, you stayed at the Ukraina Hotel, not far from the Russian Foreign Ministry. Is anything new emerging in the fight against non-shira at this time?

“By this time it became clear that this struggle had ended in nothing. The only one I encouraged to fight was Yitzhak Shamir. When he went to the United States, he raised this issue and spoke very strongly about this topic in a speech in G.I.

- At what year?

- I do not remember exactly. This was in '87 or '88. He raised this question. There was a sharp reaction from American Jews, but practically no one did anything in this direction.

“Shoshana Cardin was there and actively took up this issue.

– Almost no one did anything. And the Americans told me that we are right, but no one will do this, because Jewish organizations will accuse them of anti-Semitism. And so it was.

– Until it exceeded certain levels, when money became scarce?

– American government funds were flowing in, and they were no longer enough. Soviet Jews came to the United States as refugees. The federal budget did not finance emigrants, but did finance refugees. The number of Jews who left in 1989 increased sharply. There was not enough money in the budget line for accepting refugees.

– In 1989, 74 thousand left.

– Almost all of this number ended up in the American budget. Americans realized that the federal government did not have enough money.

- Especially<,>that soon, at such a level of non-shirs, hundreds of thousands could arrive there.

“They couldn’t accept such a quantity for many reasons.” Why are Jews yes, but Poles no? The American government could not allocate funds<а>more than 40 thousand Jews, and the number of those leaving was much greater. And not only Jews left the Union. Then the Americans decided to transfer the process to Moscow.

- And there to select those whom America deems necessary to accept...

– And close Europe. But when the Americans gathered embassy representatives in Moscow - I was at this meeting - and told us this, I asked what they would do if Soviet Jews got to Vienna and approached them from there. They replied that we were declaring that the procedure would take place in Moscow. It became clear that the Americans did not understand what they had not thought of. Well, okay - they announced it! Will Jews come to Vienna on Israeli visas and what will happen there? – Will the Americans say that they will not accept them?

– So you thought that Vienna should be closed completely?

– Departure to Israel had to be organized through Budapest and Bucharest in such a way that on Israeli visas no one would end up anywhere except Israel. I organized this scheme and showed it to Shamir. He said: “Agree with the Dutch. If they agree, then yes!”

– That is, the Dutch should have presented this scheme to the Soviet side?

- No no. We just had an agreement with them that we would not do anything without their consent. They said, "Please."

– When did you receive the status of an independent consular group?

– After a group of criminals hijacked a Soviet plane to Israel. This was at the end of 1989. We then moved into our building. And then, after negotiations, we received the status of an independent consular group.

– When did the embassy open?

– Diplomatic relations were established at the end of 1991, and then it was decided that Bovin would be the first ambassador. He came to Israel in December 1991.

– Somehow everything developed very quickly. When did Levin arrive in Moscow?

– Aron Gordon arrived first, and then Arie Levin. In 1988, he came several times as the head of the consular group.

– You were in a bad relationship.

“I played my game, and they were angry that I sometimes act contrary to their opinion and don’t ask anyone.

“He always tried to establish contacts with the Soviet leadership.

– He did not understand that the Soviet leadership was making contacts as part of its policy. They acted only by decision from above, so it was necessary to understand what could be achieved from them and what not. I didn’t ask either the Soviets or ours and did what I considered necessary. It is clear that this infuriated many people. But they couldn’t do anything to me; the prime minister was behind me. Shimon Peres was then foreign minister. Beilin and Novik knew what to do and what not to do. They understood everything I said.

– 1989, emigration increases sharply...

– The Americans made a decision in September, and from October we introduced rules according to which citizens could only travel through Bucharest and Budapest: we did not issue other visas.

– The aliyah component has increased sharply.

– Those who received permits earlier could travel along the old route, everyone else – along the new one. Until January, these guys left with old permits, and then that’s it! No one was given a visa through Austria.

– How did the West initially perceive the change of leadership in the USSR and Gorbachev’s perestroika and glasnost?

“They didn’t yet understand what really lay behind it.” On the one hand, perestroika contributed to detente in relations between East and West, and on the other hand, they saw that Gorbachev was making big concessions without always understanding what he was doing.

“I had the feeling that he started too abruptly on all sides.

“He didn’t understand what he was doing, he didn’t understand why.” He made concessions that the Americans did not even expect from him. After Reykjavik, they were shocked: he made a drastic change in Soviet policy in the field of arms limitation. The Americans at first did not believe in his agreement, since this meant that the combat effectiveness of the Soviet Union decreased several times more than that of the United States.

– What about internal democratization, glasnost?

“They saw this as a process that could weaken the Soviet Union. There is no need to idealize: even during the years of perestroika, the Soviet Union was an enemy that needed to be weakened, and this was done partly through dissidents, just as the German General Staff at one time did it through Vladimir Ulyanov. It is true that part of the American public had sympathy for the dissidents, but the rest were interested in how much this weakened the Soviet regime, which was the number one enemy of the West. How to present this is another question.

– In this context, were dissidents used?

– The American authorities used dissidents and the Jewish movement as an effective tool in the fight against Soviet power, since this weakened it both internally and externally, increased the demonization of the Soviet regime in the eyes of society, and gave a moral basis to increase pressure against the Soviet Union. This was also beneficial for us, but the Americans did this not out of love for us, but based on their own interests. They used it quite competently, I have no complaints about them. They have their own state interests, we have ours. And today too.

“Now it’s time for historians to get to work. There is a lot of information, many participants in the events are still alive, people who had a certain influence on the course of events.

“That’s why what you do is important.” If we want to be more proactive in the process, we must understand it rather than act on the gut feelings or misconceptions of individuals. I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time and have a serious influence on the emigration process and its direction. I mean the organization of direct flights from the USSR to Israel and everything related to solving the problem of non-survival. We need to change approaches to solving these types of problems.

- Thank you, Yasha.

Today, Russian television channels are literally replete with various popular talk shows dedicated to debates on politics and confrontations in this area. In one of these programs, an inquisitive viewer can very often see a man named Yakov Kedmi, whose biography will be discussed in as much detail as possible in this article. This man deserves our closest attention, because he did a lot for the formation of the modern Israeli state.

Early life

Yakov Iosifovich Kazakov was born on March 5, 1947 in Moscow into a very intelligent family of Soviet engineers. Besides him, there were two more children in the family. After our hero graduated from school, he began working at a factory as a concrete rebar worker. In parallel with this, the young man entered the correspondence department of the Moscow State University of Railways and Communications.

Manifestation of rebellion

Yakov Kedmi, whose biography is full of various interesting events, on February 19, 1967, committed an act that in those years only an extremely desperate and courageous person could decide to do. The young man came to the gates of the Israeli embassy in Moscow and stated that he wanted to move to this country for permanent residence. Of course, no one let him in, so he forced his way into the consulate territory with force and abuse, where he was eventually met by a diplomat named Herzl Amikam. The diplomat decided that everything that was happening was a possible provocation on the part of the KGB and therefore did not give a positive answer to the young man’s request. However, a week later, the persistent Yakov again got to the embassy and still received the much-coveted immigration forms.

In June 1967, when the USSR broke off diplomatic relations with Israel due to the Six-Day War, Kadmi publicly renounced his Union citizenship and began demanding the opportunity to permanently leave for Israel. Then he entered the US Embassy in Moscow, where he had a long conversation with the consul about leaving for the country of the Promised Land.

On May 20, 1968, Yakov Kedmi (whose biography is worthy of respect) became the author of a letter that was sent to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In it, the guy harshly condemned manifestations of anti-Semitism and put forward a demand to deprive him of Soviet citizenship. In addition, he arbitrarily declared himself a citizen of the Israeli state. This statement was the first of its kind in the Union. Ultimately, in February 1969, he finally moved to Israel and, according to some sources, even burned his passport as a Soviet citizen on Red Square. Although Kedmi himself regularly denies this fact.

Life in a new homeland

Yakov Kedmi, for whom Israel became a new place of residence, upon arriving in the country, immediately took up the issue of the repatriation of Soviet Jews. In 1970, he even went on hunger strike near the UN building because the Soviet authorities forbade his family to move in with him. At the same time, the Americans believed that the young Jew was a secret KGB agent. The family reunion took place on March 4, 1970, after which Yakov immediately became a fighter in the Israel Defense Forces. The service took place in tank units. Then there was training at a military school and intelligence school. In 1973 he was transferred to the reserve. The year before, his son was born.

After the service

Having become a civilian, Yakov went to work in the security service of the Arkia airport terminal. He also simultaneously became a student at the Israel Institute of Technology, and a little later successfully completed his studies at Tel Aviv University and the National Security College.

Transition to the intelligence services

In 1977, Yakov Kedmi, whose biography by that time was already filled with serious achievements, received an invitation to work at the Nativ bureau. This structure was an Israeli state institution that operated under the Office of the Prime Minister of the country. The main responsibility of the bureau was to provide contacts with Jews abroad and assist them in emigrating to Israel. In the early days of its existence, Nativ actively worked with Jews living both in the USSR and other countries of Eastern Europe. Moreover, at first the emigration took place illegally. By the way, Yakov received the surname Kedmi already in 1978, when he worked in a special transit emigration center located in Vienna.

Promotion

In 1990, Kedmi moved up the career ladder and became deputy director of Nativ. During the period 1992–1998. Yakov was already the head of the structure. It was during the period of Kedmi’s leadership in the bureau that the maximum influx of Jews from the countries of the post-Soviet space occurred. During this time, almost a million people moved to Israel. Such a significant influx of specialists and prominent scientists played an important role in the formation of Israel as a state. Colossal credit for the resettlement of Jews to their historical homeland belongs to Kedmi.

Leaving Nativ

In the fall of 1997, Yakov received an invitation to work on a committee that dealt with the problem of increasing Iranian aggression and improving relations between Moscow and Tehran. It is worth noting that Kedmi’s new job was personally proposed by the then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the process of work, Yakov made a proposal to involve influential Jews of the Russian Federation in the deterioration of relations between Russia and Iran. However, Netanyahu rejected this proposal, which served to cool relations between him and Kedmi.

In 1999, Yakov finally left the intelligence services. His resignation was preceded by a number of serious scandals that were directly related to Nativ. Structures such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shabak intelligence and Mossad were categorically against the functioning of Nativ. According to Kedmi himself, after retiring he became an ordinary pensioner, although receiving a pension equal to that of a general.

Also in 1999, Yakov initiated a public discussion of his differences with Netanyahu. The former head of Nativ picketed the prime minister with his criticism for allegedly betraying the interests of the Jews and destroying relations with the Russian Federation.

Family status

Yakov Kedmi, for whom his family has played a leading role throughout his life, has been married for a very long time. His wife, Edith, is a food chemist by training and for some time was an employee of the Israeli Ministry of Defense. After almost 40 years of continuous work, she retired. The couple raised two sons and a daughter.

The couple’s eldest son studied at the Interdisciplinary College in Herzliya and has two higher education diplomas. The daughter graduated from the Academy of Arts.

Our days

Yakov Kedmi says one thing about Russia - until 2015, this country was banned for him. But now the situation has changed; the influential Jew is a fairly frequent guest in the Russian Federation. He often attends various political shows on television as an expert. Most often he can be seen in the program of Vladimir Solovyov, broadcast on the Russia-1 channel.

In addition, the “Dialogues” program, well known to many, is very popular. In it, Yakov Kedmi discusses the topics of the Middle East, international politics and the global economy with another specialist in this area - Russian Evgeniy Satanovsky. Quite often, Yakov is invited to the authoritative radio station Vesti-FM.