World Zionist Congress (original) (raw)

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World Zionist Organization governing body

The Second Zionist Congress, held in Basel, Switzerland (1898).

Participant card for the first Zionist congress in Basel, Jewish Museum of Switzerland.[1]

The Zionist Congress was established in 1897 by Theodor Herzl as the supreme organ of the Zionist Organization (ZO) and its legislative authority. In 1960 the names were changed to World Zionist Congress (Hebrew: הקונגרס הציוני העולמי HaKongres HaTsioni HaOlami) and World Zionist Organization (WZO), respectively. The World Zionist Organization elects the officers and decides on the policies of the WZO and the Jewish Agency,[2][3] including "determining the allocation of funds."[4] The first Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland in 1897.[3] Any Jew over age 18 who belongs to a Zionist association is eligible to vote, and the number of elected delegates to the Congress is 500.[5][6] 38% of the delegates are allocated to Israel, 29% to the United States of America, and 33% to the remainder of the countries of the Diaspora.[2] In addition there are about 100 delegates which are appointed by International Organizations (e.g. B'nai B'rith, see below) affiliated with WZO.[6]

After the First Zionist Congress in 1897, the Zionist Congress met every year until 1901, then every second year from 1903 to 1913 and 1921 to 1939. Until 1946, the Congress was held every two years in various European cities, save for interruptions during the two World Wars. Their goal was to build an infrastructure to further the cause of Jewish settlement in Palestine. Since the Second World War, meetings have been held approximately every four years. Also, since the creation of the State of Israel, the Congress has met every four or five years in Jerusalem.[7]

The 38th World Zionist Congress took place in 2020.

Representatives at the World Zionist Congress

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The World Zionist Congress includes representatives of Zionist World Unions, Women's Zionist Organizations with Special Status and International Jewish Organizations.[2]

Basel Street in Tel Aviv (c. 1939) named in honor of the first Congress of 1897

Zionist World Unions

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Zionist participants in the World Zionist Congress are free to form Brit Olamit or Zionist World Unions (ideological groupings), which are somewhat like political parties. While Israeli political parties can participate in the Congress, brits are also organized and voted into the Congress by non-Israelis, making the Congress a multinational deliberative body for the Jewish diaspora. However, as aliyah has brought Jews to Israel from other countries, Israeli representation in the legislature has increased at the expense of non-Israeli Jewish diaspora representation. A Brit Olamit (World Union) must have representation in at least five countries to send a delegation to the Congress.

There are currently six Zionist World Unions (with full voting rights):

• World Zionist Union: Labor Zionist Movement – Arzenu – World Union of Meretz. Arzenu is an organization for the political representation of Reform and Progressive Religious Zionist communities in Israel and fourteen other countries. It was founded in 1980 as a Brit Olamit,[8] and is affiliated with the Netzer Olami youth organization.
• United Faction: Kadima–HaNoar HaTzioni– MERCAZ
• World Mizrachi/Ichud Le'umi/Herut/Yisrael Beytenu/Moledet/Tkuma
• World Likud/Shas
• Hadassah/Confederation
• Over The Rainbow – the Zionist movement

Israeli representatives

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Since the creation of the State of Israel, there are no elections held for Israeli delegates to the World Zionist Congress. Rather, elections to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, are deemed to fulfill this function, and Zionist parties represented in the Knesset are apportioned a number of Congress delegates proportional to their strength in the Knesset. The late left-wing leader Shulamit Aloni on several occasions criticized this practice, stating that "Most Israeli citizens neither know nor care that when they go to the polls they are among other things also electing delegates to the World Zionist Congress. (...) Had the Zionist Movement been required to do in Israel what it does in other countries - i.e., recruit paying members and get these members to hold specific elections to the World Zionist Congress - there might have been revealed an embarrassing low number of committed Zionists in Israel".[9]

Zionist organizations with special status

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Two women's organizations have special status in the Zionist Organization and have full voting rights:

• Women's International Zionist Organization – is an international, non-party Zionist body, which receives global representation by virtue of an agreement entered into in 1964.
• Hadassah – received special status by virtue of a decision of the Zionist General Council, in 1994.[2]

International Jewish organizations

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The international Jewish organizations have also been represented in the Zionist Congress since 1972, provided that they accept the Jerusalem Program,[10] even if not all their members are declared Zionists. These bodies have limited voting rights – they do not vote on matters of candidature and elections to the institutions of the WZO.[2]

The following are the International Jewish Organizations (limited voting rights):

• B'nai B'rith International
• Maccabi World Union
• Na'amat
• Women's International Zionist Organization
• World Council of Conservative Masorti Synagogues
• World Emunah
• World Organization of Orthodox Synagogues & Communities in Israel and the Diaspora
• American Sephardi Federation
• World Union for Progressive Judaism
• World Union of Jewish Students
• Zionist Council in Israel

Other participants in Congress (advisors, observers)

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• In addition to the delegates with full voting rights participating in Congress, there are also participants in an advisory capacity which can participate in debates but have no voting rights. These may consist of office holders such as members of the Zionist Executive, members of the Zionist General Council who were not elected as delegates to Congress, Chairs of the Zionist Federations, judicial office holders - the President of the Zionist Supreme Court, the Attorney, the Comptroller and representatives of the Aliyah Movement.[2]
• Observers with no speaking or voting rights can be invited by the Zionist Executive or the Congress Presidium.

Former participants

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• Aytzim

The course of the Congress

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The Zionist Congress is conducted by the Congress Presidium. Congress deliberations are divided into five stages:[2]

• Opening of the Congress, including a speech by the Chairman of the Executive, and other speeches determined in the agenda, election of the Congress Presidium, the report of the President of the Zionist Supreme Court on the election results, reports of the members of the Zionist Executive in supplement to the printed report, election of the Congress committees.
• Election of the new Executive, according to the proposal of the Congress Standing Committee.
• Meetings of the committees.
• Reports of the committees and voting on the draft resolutions presented by them. The report of the Standing Committee and voting on its proposals for members of the Zionist General Council, the Comptroller and the Legal Institutions.
• Congress closing ceremony.

The Zionist Congress, later to become the World Zionist Congress, was held at intervals of 1 year (1897–1901), then 2 years (1903–1939) until the outbreak of the Second World War, with an eight-year break (1913–1921) due to the First World War.

Members and delegates at the 1939 Zionist congress, by country/region (Zionism was banned in the Soviet Union). 70,000 Polish Jews supported the Revisionist Zionism movement, which was not represented.[11]

12th Zionist Congress, Carlsbad 1921

16th Zionist Congress, Zurich 1929

20th Zionist Congress, Zurich 1937

23rd Zionist Congress, Israeli postal stamp

25th Zionist Congress, Jerusalem, 1960

Number	Name	City	Country	Year
1	First Zionist Congress[12]	Basel	Switzerland	1897
2	Second Zionist Congress[13][14][15]	Basel	Switzerland	1898
3	Third Zionist Congress[16][14][15]	Basel	Switzerland	1899
4	Fourth Zionist Congress[17][14][15]	London	United Kingdom	1900
5	Fifth Zionist Congress[18][14][15]	Basel	Switzerland	1901
6	Sixth Zionist Congress[19][14][15]	Basel	Switzerland	1903
7	Seventh Zionist Congress[20][14][15]	Basel	Switzerland	1905
8	Eighth Zionist Congress[21][14][15]	The Hague	Netherlands	1907
9	Ninth Zionist Congress[22][14][15]	Hamburg	German Empire	1909
10	Tenth Zionist Congress[23][14][15]	Basel	Switzerland	1911
11	Eleventh Zionist Congress[24][14][15]	Vienna	Austria-Hungary	1913
12	Twelfth Zionist Congress[25][14][15]	Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary)	Czechoslovakia	1921
13	Thirteenth Zionist Congress[26][15][27]	Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary)	Czechoslovakia	1923
14	Fourteenth Zionist Congress[28][15][29]	Vienna	Austria	1925
15	Fifteenth Zionist Congress[30][15][31]	Basel	Switzerland	1927
16	Sixteenth Zionist Congress[32][15][33]	Zürich	Switzerland	1929
17	Seventeenth Zionist Congress[34][15]	Basel	Switzerland	1931
18	Eighteenth Zionist Congress[35][15]	Prague	Czechoslovakia	1933
19	Nineteenth Zionist Congress[36][15]	Lucerne	Switzerland	1935
20	Twentieth Zionist Congress[15]	Zürich	Switzerland	1937
21	Twenty-first Zionist Congress[15]	Geneva	Switzerland	1939
22	Twenty-second Zionist Congress[15][37]	Basel	Switzerland	1946
23	Twenty-third Zionist Congress[15]	Jerusalem	Israel	1951
24	Twenty-fourth Zionist Congress	Jerusalem	Israel	1956
25	Twenty-fifth Zionist Congress	Jerusalem	Israel	1960
26	Twenty-sixth Zionist Congress	Jerusalem	Israel	1964
27	Twenty-seventh Zionist Congress	Jerusalem	Israel	1968
28	Twenty-eighth Zionist Congress	Jerusalem	Israel	1972
29	Twenty-ninth Zionist Congress	Jerusalem	Israel	1978
30	Thirtieth Zionist Congress	Jerusalem	Israel	1982
31	Thirty-first Zionist Congress	Jerusalem	Israel	1987
32	Thirty-second Zionist Congress	Jerusalem	Israel	1992
33	Thirty-third Zionist Congress	Jerusalem	Israel	1997
34	Thirty-fourth Zionist Congress	Jerusalem	Israel	2003
35	Thirty-fifth Zionist Congress	Jerusalem	Israel	2006
36	Thirty-sixth Zionist Congress[38]	Jerusalem	Israel	2010
37	Thirty-seventh Zionist Congress	Jerusalem	Israel	2015
38	Thirty-eighth Zionist Congress[39]	Jerusalem	Israel	2020

• The First Zionist Congress, held in 1897 in Basel, Switzerland, had Theodor Herzl acting as chairperson. The Congress was attended by some 200 participants who formulated the Zionist platform, known as the "Basel programme", and established the Zionist Organization (ZO). In contrast with the older Hibbat Zion movement, the ZO took a clear stance in favour of political Zionism, stating in its programme that

"Zionism seeks to establish a home in Palestine for the Jewish people, secured under public law."

Herzl wrote in his diary,

"Were I to sum up the Basel Congress in a word - which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly - it would be this: At Basel I founded the Jewish State."[14]

• The Twenty-third Zionist Congress, held in 1951 in Jerusalem, was the first to be held after the establishment of the State of Israel, and the first held in Jerusalem, which would become the norm. It was opened at the graveside of Theodor Herzl, whose remains had been moved from Vienna and reburied on the top of a hill in Jerusalem that was renamed after him, Mount Herzl. The Congress issued the "Jerusalem Program", placing its main focus on the newly created state as the central unifying element for the Jewish people.[15]
• Ruth Popkin was the first woman to be Chair of the Presidium and President of the World Zionist Congress, being elected to both positions in 1987.[40]
• First Zionist Congress
• Sixth Zionist Congress
• World Zionist Organization
• Jewish Agency for Israel
• List of Jewish leaders in the Land of Israel

1. ^ Battegay, Caspar 1978- (2018). Jüdische Schweiz 50 Objekte erzählen Geschichte = Jewish Switzerland : 50 objects tell their stories. Lubrich, Naomi 1976-, Christoph Merian Verlag, Jüdisches Museum der Schweiz ([1. Auflage] ed.). [Basel]. ISBN 978-3-85616-847-6. OCLC 1015350203.{{[cite book](/wiki/Template:Cite%5Fbook "Template:Cite book")}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
2. ^ a b c d e f g "Zionist Congress". World Zionist Organization. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
3. ^ a b "Zionism: World Zionist Organization (WZO)". American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
4. ^ Cortellessa, Eric (21 October 2015). "At World Zionist Congress, Reform stakes its claim in Israel's future". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
5. ^ "Rules for the Election of Delegates to the Zionist Congress" (Microsoft Word doc). World Zionist Organization. June 2004 [1976]. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
6. ^ a b "Home". myselfourisrael.com.
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8. ^ "About". Arzenu. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
9. ^ Shulamit Aloni speech at Meretz rally in Tel Aviv, 24 March 1997.
10. ^ "38th World Zionist Congress Elections". myselfourisrael.com. 1 June 2017. Archived from the original on 1 June 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
11. ^ Source: A Survey of Palestine, prepared in 1946 for the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, Volume II p. 907 HMSO 1946.
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15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Mitchell Geoffrey Bard, Moshe Schwartz (2005). 1001 Facts Everyone Should Know about Israel. Jason Aronson, Inc. pp. 5–8. ISBN 978-0-7425-4358-4. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
16. ^ Stenographisches Protokoll der Verhandlungen des 3. Zionisten-Congresses Basel 15. bis 17. August 1899 [_Proceedings of the 3rd Zionist Congress August 15 to 17, 1899 in Basel_] (in German). Wien: Verlag des Vereins Erez Israel. 1899. ZDB 2176334-3. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
17. ^ "Stenographisches Protokoll der Verhandlungen des 4. Zionisten-Congresses in London 13., 14., 15., und 16. August 1900" [Proceedings of the 4th Zionist Congress August 13 to 16, 1900 in London]. sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de (in German). Wien: Verlag des Vereins Erez Israel. 1900. ZDB 2176334-3. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
18. ^ "Stenographisches Protokoll der Verhandlungen des 5. Zionisten-Congresses in Basel 26., 27. 28., 29. und 30 December 1901" [Proceedings of the 5th Zionist Congress December 26 to 30, 1901 in Basel]. sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de (in German). Wien: Verlag des Vereins Erez Israel. 1901. ZDB 2176334-3. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
19. ^ "Stenographisches Protokoll der Verhandlungen des 6. Zionisten-Congresses Basel August 1903" [Proceedings of the 6th Zionist Congress August 1903 in Basel]. sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de (in German). Wien: Verlag des Vereins Erez Israel. 1903. ZDB 2176334-3. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
20. ^ "Stenographisches Protokoll der Verhandlungen des 7. Zionisten-Congresses Basel und des außerordentlichen Kongresses in Basel 27., 28., 29., 30., 31. Juli, 1. und 2. August 1905" [Proceedings of the 7th Zionist Congress and special congress July 27 to August 2nd, 1905 in Basel]. sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de (in German). Berlin: Jüdischer Verlag. 1906. ZDB 2176334-3. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
21. ^ "Stenographisches Protokoll der Verhandlungen des 8. Zionisten-Kongresses im Haag vom 14. bis inklusive 21. August 1907" [Proceedings of the 8th Zionist Congress August 14 to 21, 1907 in The Haague]. sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de (in German). Köln: Jüdischer Verlag. 1907. ZDB 2176334-3. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
22. ^ "Stenographisches Protokoll der Verhandlungen des 9. Zionisten-Kongresses in Hamburg vom 26. bis inklusive 30 December 1909" [Proceedings of the 9th Zionist Congress December 26 to 30, 1909 in Hamburg]. sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de (in German). Köln und Leipzig: Jüdischer Verlag. 1910. ZDB 2176334-3. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
23. ^ "Stenographisches Protokoll der Verhandlungen des 10. Zionisten-Kongresses in Basel vom 9. bis inklusive 15. August 1911" [Proceedings of the 10th Zionist Congress August 9 to 15, 1911 in Basel]. sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de (in German). Berlin und Leipzig: Jüdischer Verlag. 1911. ZDB 2176334-3. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
24. ^ Cite error: The named reference Protokoll_11.Kongress_1911 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
25. ^ "Stenographisches Protokoll der Verhandlungen des 12. Zionisten-Kongresses in Karlsbad vom 1. bis 14. September 1921" [Proceedings of the 12th Zionist Congress September 1 to 14, 1921 in Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary)]. sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de (in German). Berlin: Jüdischer Verlag. 1922. ZDB 2176334-3. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
26. ^ "Stenographisches Protokoll der Verhandlungen des 13. Zionisten-Kongresses vom 6. bis 18. August 1923 in Karlsbad" [Proceedings of the 13th Zionist Congress August 6 to 18, 1923 in Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary)]. sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de (in German). London: Zentralbüro der Zionistischen Organisation. 1924. ZDB 2176334-3. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
27. ^ "The Thirteenth Zionist Congress Is Convened in Czechoslovakia". CIE. 6 August 2019.
28. ^ "Protokoll der Verhandlungen des 14. Zionisten-Kongresses vom 16. bis 31 August 1925 in Wien" [Proceedings of the 14th Zionist Congress August 16 to 31, 1925 in Vienna]. sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de (in German). London: Zentralbüro der Zionistischen Organisation. 1926. ZDB 2176334-3. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
29. ^ "The Canadian Jewish Chronicle - Google News Archive Search".
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31. ^ "Fifteenth Zionist Congress Approves Jewish Agency Plan Sponsored by Weizmann". 12 September 1927.
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33. ^ Resolutions of the 16th Zionist Congress With a Summary Report of the Proceeding
34. ^ "Protokoll der Verhandlungen des 17. Zionistenkongresses und der zweiten Tagung des Council der Jewish Agency für Palästina, Basel, 30. Juni bis 17. Juli 1931" [Proceedings of the 17th Zionist Congress and 2nd meeting of the Council of the Jewish Angency for Palestine, June 30 to July 17, 1931 in Basel]. sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de (in German). London: Zentralbureau der zionistischen Organisation. 1931. ZDB 2176334-3. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
35. ^ "Protokoll der Verhandlungen des 18. Zionistenkongresses und der dritten Tagung des Council der Jewish Agency für Palästina, Prag, 21. August bis 4. September 1933" [Proceedings of the 18th Zionist Congress and third meeting of the Council of the Jewish Angency for Palestine, August 21 to September 4, 1933 in Prague]. sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de (in German). Wien: Fiba-Verlag. 1934. ZDB 2176334-3. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
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38. ^ Jerusalem Post: WZO gets 1st religious-Zionist chairman
39. ^ "Diaspora Jews Have Their Say: World Zionist Congress 2020". Jewish Exponent. 15 January 2020.
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• Official website
• Newspaper clippings about World Zionist Congress in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW