6 - TRADE WITH THE SOVIET UNION

Summary

An analysis of the economic ties between Israel and the leading state in the Soviet bloc perhaps best illustrates two claims already partially made above. First, that Israeli trade with the Eastern bloc was unequivocally influenced by interests of aliyah. Secondly, the notable absence of references to the aliyah of Russian Jews in Soviet–Israeli relations exerted a negative influence, at least for a certain period, on the development of economic ties between the two countries.

The most prominent feature of economic relations between Israel and the U.S.S.R. between 1949 and the latter half of 1953 is Israel's failure to attempt to expand and develop them. Between 1948 and late 1949 Russia had supplied Israel with merchandise worth some $750,000, most of which was fuel, a product that Israel desperately needed during the critical months of the 1948 War and which was hard to acquire elsewhere. She also sold Israel wheat, when that commodity was similarly hard to come by. However, Israel did not reciprocate with any of the steps taken in Eastern Europe in order to establish an economic relationship via trade agreements. Between mid-1948 and early 1949, the Israeli Economic Attaché in Moscow, Moshe Bejerano, repeatedly requested instructions regarding an agreement of this sort, emphasizing the enormous sales potential for Israeli goods in Russia, as well as the political benefits implicit in such a relationship.