His lawyer said it would be "extremely difficult" for Russia to extradite him from Israel.
Mr Gusinsky, who holds Israeli and Russian citizenship, has not revealed how long he plans to stay in Israel.
But it appears he could remain there for some time in a kind of self-imposed exile.
"If I go to Russia, it's a one-way ticket," he told the French news agency AFP before flying to Israel.
His lawyer said it would be "extremely difficult" for Russia to extradite him from Israel.
"If he is going to Israel, it is because he has full confidence in the Israeli Government," Spanish lawyer Domingo Plazas said.
However, some legal experts say Israel and Russia have signed a European agreement which technically makes extradition between the countries possible.
Mr Gusinsky flew to Israel on a hired executive jet from the British territory of Gibraltar, after crossing the border from Spain late on Tuesday.
He has been embroiled in a legal battle in Spain since December, when he was arrested on a warrant issued by state prosecutors in Russia.
He finally won the fight last week, when the Spanish High Court ruled that his alleged fraud offences were not crimes in Spain.
But within days, fresh charges alleging money-laundering were issued by Russian prosecutors, who said they would seek a new international arrest warrant.
Charges a 'joke'
The tycoon has insisted from the start that the charges against him are politically motivated, because his media group has adopted an anti-government stance on a number of key issues, including the war in Chechnya.
In a brief interview with the news agency Reuters before leaving Gibraltar, Mr Gusinsky described the new charges as a "joke".
"Money laundering is a very tough allegation," he said. "But the political motivation is clear. The regime destroys only media, not the steel or gas industry, just the media."
Mr Gusinsky has seen his media empire start to disintegrate during his extradition battle, most controversially with the takeover of his NTV television station by a state-dominated firm, Gazprom.
"Putin wants absolute power...He is a danger to Europe," he said.
Moscow prosecutors, meanwhile, have reiterated their determination to get its hands on Mr Gusinsky.
"We want him to appear in a Russian court," said Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov.
"We have still not received any documents from the Spanish court that would prove the innocence or guilt of Gusinsky."