The Chabad Hasidic movement has launched a lawsuit against Russia and called on the Israeli authorities to grant Russia control of the Alexander Church complex in Jerusalem only if the archives of the Schneerson Library are returned, reports The Jerusalem Post..

Representatives of Chabad turned to the legal adviser of the Israeli government, lawyer Gali Bakharav-Miar with a demand to freeze the procedures for transferring ownership of the Alexander Compound church in Jerusalem to the Russian government.

The Schneerson Library is a unique historical collection of about 12,000 books and original works, belonged to the Lubavitcher dynasty of rabbis before the Russian Revolution and was nationalized by the Soviet government in the 1920s. After it became state property and transferred to the storage of the Lenin State Library (today the Russian State Library).

Chabad demands from the Russian government to return the collection to the possession of its headquarters in the United States.

There are now a number of court decisions in the United States against the Russian government ordering it to return the Schneerson library to Chabad, including a hefty US contempt fine of approximately $170 million..

Moscow is demanding Israel hand over control of the Alexander Compound church complex in Jerusalem to Russia, which former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to hand over to the Russians as a gesture of goodwill after Naami Issachar's release from Russian prison in 2020.. However, the Jerusalem District Court blocked the decision..

Chabad's demand to the Israeli government is to freeze the transfer of ownership of property in Israel and, in particular, to the Alexander Compound church, to the Russian government, until the process of returning the Schneerson collection is successfully completed..

“The Rebbe instructed us to return the books from Russia,” said Rabbi Shlomo Kunin, a member of the special team assigned by the last Rebbe to Chabad to return books to the US.

He added that "

As reported, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation demands to liquidate the representative office of the Jewish agency Sokhnut, which helps the repatriation of Jews.

Some Jews living in Russia said that the Russian authorities are trying to arrest them and are afraid for their lives..

Israeli authorities condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and expressed support for Ukraine. At the same time, Israel did not begin to impose sanctions against the Russian Federation together with the West, as is believed due to the great influence of Russia on the situation in Syria..