Israeli President Isaac Herzog warned on Tuesday, during a state visit to Kazakhstan, that Iran may be trying to use Kyrgyzstan as a smuggling route or in a scheme to circumvent sanctions.
Herzog said this during a meeting in Astana, the Kazakhstani capital, with rabbis from Central Asia, following the visit to the Kyrgyzstani capital of Bishkek of Reza Talai Nik, the deputy minister of defense of Iran.
Kyrgyzstani media reported that the purpose of Nik’s visit was to attend a meeting of the defense ministers of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
But Herzog said the issue required some investigation. “Nothing is a coincidence here, and the Iranians may be trying to use Kyrgyzstan as a smuggling route, trying to get materials we’re trying to prevent. We need to keep an eye on this and I will flag this issue in Jerusalem,” he said.
Also present in the meeting with Herzog was Yoav Bistritsky, Israel’s ambassador to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Participants touched on a recent antisemitic incident in a hotel in the city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan, whose management placed a sign in the lobby reading, “Jews and animals not allowed.”
Authorities in Kyrgyzstan were actively engaged in fighting antisemitism, the chief rabbi of Kyrgyzstan, Arye Raichman, told Herzog, though a “troubling incident” did emerge recently,” he said. Bistritsky said that such incidents were “mostly connected to Israel, around the Swords of Iron operation” in Gaza.
