“There is no better way to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day!” That was how the official account of the Israeli Embassy in Russia framed the story on April 22, 2026.

Because what could possibly be more fitting on Israel’s Independence Day than sending an Israeli school delegation to Moscow? One can only hope they did not get there through Domodedovo.

The students returned with six medals from the 60th International Mendeleev Chemistry Olympiad. That is a strong result. It deserves respect. But that is also exactly what makes this story so uncomfortable.

The problem is not the students. The problem is not their achievement. The problem is the adults who once again decided that Israel can behave as if there is some sterile zone “outside politics,” where one may calmly pose for photographs in Moscow, step onto a stage under national flags, and pretend that this is simply a school competition. In 2026, that logic no longer looks naïve. It looks helpless.

That is precisely why the substitution here is so dangerous: the children truly performed with distinction, and that very success gives adults a convenient screen behind which they can avoid discussing the political price of such a trip.

If one looks at the list of participants and the broader political atmosphere, it becomes obvious why this is not being read as a neutral school trip but as another failure of judgment. Israel ended up as the only democracy willing to show up in Moscow for this kind of “international platform.” Against the backdrop of the absence of the United States and the leading countries of Western Europe, that looked especially humiliating.

Others stayed away because they did not want to get dirty. They did not want to take part in Russia’s staged message — look, people still come to us. They did not want to help soften the image of a regime that has now spent five years waging a destructive war against a neighboring state.

And who did show up? Moscow’s satellites, regimes comfortable with this kind of spectacle, Arab neighbors, Cuba, Belarus, and others for whom such a backdrop raises no serious moral problem. Against that background, Israel decided that it, too, should be there.

The list of countries published on the olympiad site matters for understanding the larger picture.

Europe Belarus, Hungary, North Macedonia.

Africa Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, Ethiopia.

Asia Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka.

Americas Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, Honduras.

Middle East Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia.

This was not a gathering of the democratic mainstream. It was a stage crowded with Russia itself, states aligned with Moscow, states comfortable with anti-Western theatrics, Arab neighbors, and regimes for which such symbolism carries no real moral cost. And in the middle of that picture stood Israel.

That is where the most uncomfortable question begins.

Who sends delegations like this? And how does it fit into Israeli policy?

Trips to international olympiads do not simply happen on their own. Israel’s chemistry team is part........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)