- April 30, 2026
- 8:28 pm
- Brief news
Official Address to Nir Barkat
The Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, Moshe Reuven Asman, announced on April 30, 2026, that he sent an official letter to Israel’s Minister of Economy, Nir Barkat, requesting a review of the grain procurement policy.
This primarily concerns Russian grain.
In his address, Asman emphasized that part of the grain exported by Russia might be linked to temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. According to him, under current conditions, the purchase of such wheat can no longer be considered merely a regular commercial transaction.
This is a matter of morality, security, and political responsibility.
This signal is especially important for Israel. The country itself is at war, depends on external food supplies, and understands the cost of strategic vulnerability well. Therefore, the issue of Russian grain goes far beyond the Ukrainian-Russian conflict.
Why Russian wheat has become a problem for Israel
In the letter to Nir Barkat, the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine directly pointed out: economic decisions today have not only financial but also deep moral significance.
Asman reminded that Russia is waging war against Ukraine and is also an ally of Iran — a state that poses a direct threat to both Ukraine and Israel. In this context, the purchase of Russian grain appears to many not as neutral import but as indirect support for a system financing aggression.
He separately drew attention to the possible origin of some of the grain. According to him, there are reasonable claims that part of the supplies may come from occupied territories of Ukraine, where the grain was effectively appropriated.
For the Israeli audience, this is a painful issue.
If a country built on the memory of persecution, exile, and the struggle for the right to security begins to depend on a resource that may be linked to the plundering of another country, it raises not only a diplomatic but also a moral problem.
It is at this point that the issue of grain ceases to be about accounting.
It turns into a question: can Israel afford to turn a blind eye to the origin of wheat when war, occupation, civilian casualties, and Ukrainian Jews living under Russian attacks every day are at stake?
Dependence on Russia as a risk to food security
Asman also emphasized the practical side of the problem. According to him, Israel’s excessive dependence on Russian grain is dangerous in itself.
The official letter states that, according to available estimates, Russia may control up to 85% of Israel’s grain imports. Such a concentration of supplies in the hands of one source makes the country vulnerable both economically and geopolitically.
This is especially important now, when the Middle East remains unstable, and Iran and its allies continue to exploit any weakness against Israel.
If Israel’s food security depends on a state that cooperates with Iran, it is no longer just foreign trade. It is a strategic risk.
NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency points out: the issue of grain supplies could become as much of a test for Israel as issues of arms, sanctions, diplomatic votes, and attitudes towards Russia’s war against Ukraine. Sometimes a country makes a choice not with a loud statement, but with a contract, an invoice, and an import permit.
What Moshe Reuven Asman proposed
The Chief Rabbi of Ukraine did not call for Israel to abruptly and immediately break off grain purchases. In his public message, he separately explained that he understands the complexity of the situation.
Israel is also at war. The Israeli economy is also under pressure. Therefore, Asman speaks of a gradual withdrawal from Russian wheat, not an immediate ban.
This is an important detail.
He proposed that Israel begin a clear and consistent process: to minimize purchases of Russian wheat and expand purchases from strategic partners. Primarily from the United States of America.
Why the USA is mentioned in the letter
In the address to Nir Barkat, Asman named the USA as a strategic ally of Israel capable of providing stable and transparent grain supplies.
The meaning of this position is obvious: if Israel can receive critically important food resources from an ally, rather than from an aggressor country and partner of Iran, such a transition strengthens not only the moral position but also real security.
For Israel, this is especially sensitive.
After October 7, the country looks anew at dependence on external factors: from weapons, diplomatic support, logistics, sea routes, energy, and food. Wheat in this list is no less important than military equipment. Without food sustainability, there is no long-term national resilience.
Why this appeal is important for the Jewish world
In his letter, Moshe Reuven Asman separately mentioned that civilians, including Jews, are killed daily by Russian strikes in Ukraine.
This is not a rhetorical detail.
The Ukrainian Jewish community is experiencing the war along with the entire country. Jewish families sit in shelters during Russian missile attacks, lose homes, help the army, volunteers, refugees, and the wounded. Against this background, purchasing grain from Russia appears to many Ukrainian Jews as a particularly painful signal.
Israel is not obliged to make every decision under the pressure of emotions. But it cannot ignore the moral side where it concerns a resource that may be linked to occupation, violence, and war financing.
That is why Asman’s appeal is important not only for Kyiv and Jerusalem.
It is addressed to the entire Jewish world.
Why the letter did not contain a direct call to buy grain from Ukraine
One detail stands out: Moshe Reuven Asman did not formulate the letter as a request to replace Russian wheat specifically with Ukrainian. Although he is the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, his appeal is structured differently.
The main emphasis is not on promoting Ukrainian exports, but on Israel’s refusal of dangerous dependence on Russia. This is an important diplomatic move. If the letter sounded like a commercial call “buy from Ukraine,” it could be attempted to be presented as lobbying. Instead, Asman speaks of a principle: Israel should not strengthen economic ties with an aggressor state and ally of Iran.
That is why the USA is mentioned in the letter as Israel’s strategic partner. For the Israeli authorities, such an argument sounds practical: it is not only about morality but also about stable, transparent supplies from an ally, not from a country that is waging war against Ukraine and is simultaneously linked with Israel’s enemies.
At the same time, the Ukrainian context does not disappear. On the contrary, it remains at the center of the appeal: part of the Russian grain could have been stolen from occupied territories of Ukraine, and revenues from Russian exports help the system that continues the war.
Israel is faced with an unpleasant choice
The situation with Russian grain poses a complex but inevitable question for Israel: can purchases continue from a country that is waging war against Ukraine, cooperating with Iran, and may use export revenues to continue aggression?
Formally, it is about wheat.
In essence, it is about whether Israel is ready to change economic habits if they create moral and strategic dependence on a dangerous source.
Asman proposed not a slogan, but a practical path: gradual withdrawal, expansion of purchases from allies, reduction of dependence on Russia, and strengthening of food security.
For Israel, this could be an opportunity not just to correct a controversial trade practice, but to show that memory, alliance, and moral responsibility do not end where an import contract begins.
The question is now for the Israeli authorities.
They can pretend that it is just grain. But after the official address of the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine, such a position will sound increasingly weaker.