How do Russian oligarchs live in Israel

A new stream of repatriates to Israel, called in Hebrew "Aliyah" - is special. Sharp-tongued Israelis have already dubbed this aliyah "monetary." Billionaire Roman Abramovich - the richest, but not her only representative.

Фото: Depositphotos

Russian oligarchs, who suddenly remembered their Jewish roots, clearly feel uncomfortable in their homeland if they remembered the ancestral homeland. Yesterday they spoke of Israel with irony, but today Israel is the only country that immediately gives them citizenship. The Israeli darkon allows them to move around the world, the health insurance card’s card is free of charge, and an Israeli bank account is the best guarantee for the safety of their money.

Favorite restaurant of Russian oligarchs in Israel

Outside, the Shallot restaurant looks like many other restaurants on Ha-Barzel Street in the prestigious Ramat Hayal district in Tel Aviv. But on a typical day, the total "cost" of all those sitting at the tables can reach hundreds of millions of dollars. On a good day, even billions.

A typical Israeli, if he comes in here, does not recognize most of the people sitting in the restaurant. Shallot is a favorite meeting place for representatives of the elite of the new Russian aliya, the “monetary one”.

Here the newest and most famous repatriate Roman Abramovich dines, sometimes with David Davidovich, who used to be his assistant, and now has become an independent businessman. Here they often see Leonid Nevzlin, sometimes with his son-in-law - the chairman of the Knesset, Julius Edelstein. In the evening, a bohemian gathers here, and Vladimir Spivakov and Yuri Bashmet, two famous Russian-Jewish musicians, can be at the table near you.

In the evenings, there are also performances and poetry readings in the best Russian traditions, but with strictly kosher food prepared by chef Mikhail Amayev, also a new repatriate and owner of several kosher restaurants in Moscow.

This place is a good representative of the Russian elite, the one that settled well at home after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and now runs from Putin with an Israeli passport.

Abramovich is perhaps the most famous “Ole Hadash”, but he is just a big drop in the incessant stream of rich Jews from Russia who make Aliyah. At least on paper.

Why do they run to Israel

In recent years, the repatriation from Russia has resumed mainly due to the economic crisis in the country, which began in 2014 and coincided with a prolonged fall in oil prices and increased sanctions. The turning point was the spring of the year 2014, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of the Crimea and caused a sharp reaction in the world.

Only this time, the flow of Aliyah is very different from what Israel is used to perceive as the “oli mi-Rusia”. This is not the cashier and janitors. One by one, general directors of companies, leading members of the banking system, regional politicians, city councilors, parliamentarians and showbiz stars who are happy to receive an Israeli passport are knocking on the doors of the Israeli embassy in Moscow. Darkon for them - a means of free movement around the world, while the holder of a Russian passport requires a visa to almost every country in the West.

They are also happy to receive a card from the local health insurance scheme — an additional insurance policy that guarantees them a decent old age.

The Israeli embassy in Russia does not remember such lines from the beginning of the 1990-s. Over the past three years, the average number of repatriates from the former Soviet Union (the vast majority of them from Russia) is about 15 thousand per year, which is twice the average at the beginning of the decade. The waiting period for the liaison office (Nativ), which is responsible for reviewing applications for repatriation in accordance with the Law on Returns and issuing visas to Russian Jews, jumped from three weeks to three months.

Although the “monetary aliya” began four years ago, it is obvious that in the past six months the flow has increased. “Business people in Russia feel that something is about to happen, and everyone is nervous,” said Ilona Lewinsky, the owner of public relations firm BARD, who accompanies Russian businessmen in Israel. “Tensions with the United States and Western sanctions reinforce fears that the authorities will decide to nationalize businesses, and many will lose their money.”

Alex Vodovoz, one of the owners of the BMC Mortgage Consulting Company, also agrees that something has changed. “Creeping nationalization of business has long been observed, mostly for the time being by banks,” he says. - Over the past decade, 575 of Russian banks closed, but in general there were less 50%. No more super profits, but at the same time taxation is creeping up. Therefore, a whole generation of businessmen are beginning to see themselves living and working in Israel in a more relaxed and pleasant environment. ”

Where they live in Israel: Vinocour and Rosenbaum apartments

A whole industry of intermediaries operates around new citizens, offering to buy everything - from existing companies to start-ups, but first and foremost to real estate. Herzliya-Pituah is still among the most desirable places to live, and there is almost no oligarch or mini-oligarch who did not try to pop Noah Dankner’s villa on Shlomo ha Melekh Street (in the end, it was sold last November to Ilya Turpiashvili, co-founder of online games Plarium, for 47 million shekels).

But most of the new immigrants of the current wave are not oligarchs, they are people with an average capital of tens of millions of dollars, so for them a more realistic option is a luxurious apartment for 5-10 million shekels.

New olim will not go south of Rishon Lezion and Bat Yam, where they bought many apartments in new projects. Their northern border is Caesarea, and the highlight is Netanya, especially new projects.

Netanya became a hit mainly because Russian-Jewish celebrities bought apartments there, including Russia's richest Jew Mikhail Fridman, the owner of Russia's largest Alfa Bank, Vladimir Vinokur, one of the most famous comedians, and Alexander Rosenbaum, the singer, received all-Russian recognition.

Russian accounts in Israeli banks

Water carrier from BMC, which two years ago felt a growing demand for darkons and real estate, resigned from the post of head of the credit risk department at Hapoalim Bank and joined a mortgage consulting company to develop its Russian segment. He meets with his target audience when she still does not even know that she needs a mortgage. Russians believe mostly in cash and loans from family members, and interest rates on loans there are very high.

Water carrier and its partners prepare the ground for the purchase of real estate when their clients are still in Russia, and organize mortgage loans in Israeli banks. Those who do not have Israeli citizenship can receive up to 50 percent of funding, and new citizens up to 70 percent.

Ironically, Israeli banks willingly lend money to foreigners, but do not take their money. Therefore, one of the main problems of repatriates is opening a bank account. Sources close to Abramovich say that even he, an oil tycoon who costs almost 12 billion dollars and has a number of investments in Israel, has faced a stubborn refusal.

Фото: Depositphotos

This may seem strange, but local banks have still not recovered from the consequences of the capital-money laundering scandals - from the case of the Hayarkon branch of Hapoalim Bank that broke out in 2005 a year to a fine of one and a half billion shekels, which Leumi Bank »Paid to the US authorities for helping to avoid their American clients in tax evasion. So for now, they prefer not to get involved with the “new Russians.” “Banks in Israel are like Masada’s fortress: it’s hard to enter, but if you’re there, you’re forever safe,” said lawyer Eli Gervitz, founder of the largest law firm in the Russian sector, representing Russian businessmen.

As an example, Gervits gives an almost endless list of requirements that Hapoalim Bank makes to a new immigrant who wants to open an account. “If you want to transfer money from Russia, from one of the top five banks, with confirmation of tax returns, to pay salaries, dividends or buy an apartment, you will have a soul taken out of Israel, but in the end you may have an account. In any other case, there will be no conversation, ”he says.

Are they Jews?

Why do the “new Russians” come to Israel and how is it that even after the massive repatriation of a million Jews in the 1990s in Russia, there are so many Jews left? The key word here is “the third generation.”

According to the Law of Return, any person, one of whose grandfathers is a Jew, even from the father’s side, has the right to repatriate to Israel. This is a criterion that contradicts the halachic understanding of Jewry, but is sufficient to qualify for repatriation. Therefore, everyone who represents something in Russia and has money is busy with a frantic search for documents proving that his grandfather was a Jew.

Israeli citizenship is an insurance policy in Russia whose authorities are known for their unpredictability in the field of entrepreneurship. One of the examples of the interaction of the authorities with the business is the “telephone right”. Today, the signal from above is unequivocal: no one is immune. And this is the starting point of reflection for businessmen in Russia, even such as Abramovich, who, it would seem, has close ties with Putin. "Even people who own tens and hundreds of millions of dollars feel that security has been lost," says Eli Gervitz.

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