Alexander Ben Zvi: An Israeli diplomat’s 2025 predictions

Russia won’t start World War III, antisemitism will continue to worsen across Western Europe, and except for Argentina, Israel is losing support throughout once-sympathetic Latin America.

So says Alexander Ben Zvi, who retired exactly one year ago after an illustrious 40-year career that ended with his final posting as Israel’s ambassador in Moscow.

From Buenos Aires to Bratislava, the 68-year-old Ben Zvi has represented Israel’s interests in more than half a dozen capitals. Fluent in eight languages, he spoke with me at length Sunday on the sidelines of an all-day conference here sponsored by the nonprofit organization Limmud FSU and attended by more than 500 Jews from throughout the former USSR.

“We are in a critical situation politically, but not militarily, because the direct military threat is over,” he said. “Yes, we have missiles from Yemen and still the threat from Iran, but they are not on our borders. There is no direct danger of invasion like we had on Oct. 7. And while we’re still in Gaza and Lebanon, and on the Golan in Syria, these are mainly preventive measures.”

The threat is more political, he said, as Israel faces increasing hostility at the United Nations, before the International Criminal Court, on the angry streets of Western Europe—and increasingly, in Russia itself, where Ben Zvi was posted for three years.

Portraits of Russia’s Vladimir Putin are used as target practice at a shooting range in Lviv, Ukraine. (Photo by Larry Luxner)

The day after Vladimir Putin invaded neighboring Ukraine, in February 2022, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov summoned Ben Zvi to clarify why Israel was expressing support for the “Nazis” in Ukraine. That came after then-Foreign Minister Yair Lapid had condemned the unprovoked invasion as “a grave violation of the international order,” even though Naftali Bennett—who was prime minister at the time—took pains to avoid condemning Russia or even mention it by name.

Later that year, in August, Ben Zvi met again with Bogdanov in a failed bid to stop Russia from shutting the Jewish Agency’s Moscow office, which had functioned since 1989, facilitating the aliyah of over a million Jews to Israel. Relations worsened significantly after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, amid Putin’s blatant diplomatic and military support of the terrorist group.

Only a month after the Gaza war erupted, a hysterical mob stormed the airport in Makhachkala—the capital of Russia’s predominantly Muslim republic of Dagestan—where a flight from Tel Aviv had just landed. Some 30 Israeli passengers hid in a VIP terminal until they could be rescued by helicopter from the rock-throwing Muslims, who roamed the airport looking for Jews.

Things worsened earlier this year, when Israel promised to give Ukraine early-warning systems, and again last month after the Pentagon authorized Kyiv to use US-made long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russia. Lately, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has been talking an awful lot about World War III—though Ben Zvi said he does not take such threats seriously.

“Mutually assured destruction is still there, and so are second-strike capabilities,” he said. “Who would start such a war?”

Yiddish words decorate the façade of a building in Lviv, Ukraine. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, housands of Jews from both countries have fled to Israel. (Photo by Larry Luxner)

Despite all the tensions, he insists, bilateral ties between Moscow and Jerusalem are still better than they were from 1967 to 1991, when the two countries had zero relations.

“Now at least we have embassies there and here,” he said. “We are not on Russia’s list of unfriendly nations, and officially, we are not part of the sanctions. This is because we have special interests—issues involving Syria and the Jewish community of Russia—that other countries do not have.”

Ben-Zvi declined to speculate on how many Jews remain in Russia, suggesting only that the actual number is probably “much higher” than the official figure of 200,000.

If the war between Russia and Ukraine intensifies, he said, another wave of Ukrainian refugees will probably flood Europe.

“The territory that was taken was all on the Ukrainian side, so in that respect it’s like the First World War. The question is whether Trump will change US policy of helping Ukraine militarily and financially. If yes, then it will change the course of the war,” he said. “But I have to be optimistic; otherwise, we will be stuck with this for years.”

The former ambassador praised the 45th president for orchestrating the Abraham Accords which established diplomatic ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco— and for insisting that all Israeli hostages currently held in Gaza be freed immediately.

Israel’s former ambassador to Russia, Alexander Ben Zvi (left), and Limmud FSU Founder Chaim Chesler at a Dec. 29 event in Tel Aviv. (Photo courtesy Limmud FSU)

Ben Zvi was born in Chernovtsy (now Ukraine), and served as deputy ambassador in Poland, Peru, Russia and Argentina. His first ambassadorial posting was to Costa Rica (2002-06). Later stints included Slovakia (2010-15), Poland (2019-20) and finally Russia (2020-23).

Upon his retirement from the Israeli Foreign Service exactly one year ago, Ben Zvi was replaced as ambassador in Moscow by Simona Halperin, a Latvian-born veteran diplomat who lived in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) before emigrating with her family to Israel in 1976.

His postings to Israeli missions throughout Eastern Europe and Latin America have made him somewhat of an expert on global antisemitism, of which he said there are five types.

“The first is state-sponsored antisemitism like in Iran, where it’s official. The second is the right-wing kind that you now see in many European countries, and the third is left-wing antisemitism.” Both, he said, hide their real agenda under the banner of anti-Zionism.

“But that’s just a cover. When people on the street hear from their leader that it’s OK to attack Israel, they automatically mix up Israel and Jews,” he claimed. “Tell me what attacking a synagogue in Melbourne has to do with anti-Israel policies. When you burn a synagogue, it’s antisemitism. And when you compare the swastika to a Star of David, it’s also antisemitism.”

Muslim woman wearing a hijab purchases fruit from an outdoor market in Brussels. An estimated 7% of Belgium’s population of 11.8 million have Arab origins. (Photo by Larry Luxner)

The fourth type, he said, is propagated by Muslim extremist street mobs in countries ranging from Denmark and the Netherlands to Australia and the United States, while the fifth is old-fashioned medieval blood libels of the kind spread by the “Jews killed Jesus” crowd.

“When you mix all this together, you see different reasons behind the antisemitism but the same result,” he said. “Basic antisemitism exists everywhere—even in Costa Rica.”

Ben Zvi, who speaks Spanish fluently, noted the irony of Israel’s long history of excellent relations with Latin America, only to see the rise of hostile governments throughout the region. In May, Colombia became the latest country to break relations with Jerusalem after its leftist president, Gustavo Petro, described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide.”

Bolivia, Belize, Nicaragua and Venezuela have all cut diplomatic ties with Israel, while Brazil and Chile have recalled their ambassadors from Tel Aviv. Yet Argentina, which had long been a loud critic of the Jewish state, has paradoxically emerged as Israel’s best friend in the region under its populist president, Javier Milei, a Judeophile who made it a point to visit the Western Wall on his first overseas visit since taking office in December 2023.

“What happened in Colombia is unexplainable,” Ben Zvi said. “I’ve been there many times and was even teaching there in the diplomatic academy. We always had excellent relations with Colombia, but then somebody from the M-19 guerrilla movement was elected president—not because he was anti-Israeli but because of his progressive views.”

“Free Gaza” graffiti is scrawled on a construction site near the main railway station in Ljubljiana, Slovenia. (Photo by Larry Luxner)

Jew hatred persists even in small countries like Slovenia, a former Yugoslav republic and EU member that’s home to no more than 100 Jews. In June, the nation of 2.1 million followed Ireland, Norway and Spain in recognizing Palestine as a state, and only last week—on Dec. 21—its public broadcaster, RTV, became the first in Europe to demand that Israel be barred from the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest over the war in Gaza.

“Antisemitism without Jews is nothing new,” Ben Zvi said. “The Slovenes are saying all the time that they’re only against Israeli policies. So if there really is a change—let’s say we sign a peace agreement with the Palestinians—would it change Slovenia’s policy as well? Hard to say, but I think it’s more the influence of left-wing parties trying to be liberal without knowing the facts.”

Before wrapping up our conversation, I asked this elder statesman if it’s already too late for Europe. According to the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency, nearly 96% of Europe’s Jews have encountered some form of antisemitism, and the World Zionist Organization says antisemitic incidents have jumped by 400% since Oct. 7, 2023.

“I don’t know if everything is lost, but it’s on the way,” he replied, noting recent assaults against Jews in England, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands. “Politicians are now waking up and saying, ‘listen, maybe we made a mistake.’ As an Israeli and as a Jew, I feel safer in Eastern Europe. Nobody would ever think about attacking Jews in Budapest or Bratislava.”

Ben Zvi added: “If this trend continues, it’ll be very difficult to maintain a Jewish life in Europe for much longer. But don’t worry, it will not happen tomorrow.”