Following a cycle more irregular than the U.S. Presidential elections, but perhaps meriting equal attention for American Jews, the 2025 World Zionist Congress Election has arrived. In a development that some are calling “the surge,” the number of slates competing in the 39th elections has increased by 69 percent compared to the 2020 elections, driven by parties entering the election in response to Oct 7. Midway through the elections, the surge has also been reflected on the voter side, with turnout already surpassing the number of votes from the previous election.
The World Zionist Congress (WZC) is the legal organ of the World Zionist Organization (WZO), a body established by Theodore Herzl at the first Zionist Congress in 1897 in Basle, Switzerland, devoted to the project of “promoting Zionism and the Zionist idea and Zionist enterprise.” One of the stated aims of The Jerusalem Program, the platform of the WZO, is “struggling against all manifestations of anti-Semitism.” Yet of the 22 slates brought this year to garner a portion of the 152 American seats in the World Zionist Congress, eight do not mention anti-Semitism in their two-page platform.
This is not necessarily an indicator of the worth of the platform. Herut, the movement claiming to honor the ideology of Ze’ev Jabotinsky, includes a promise to combat anti-Semitism, along with other broad statements, but goes into no detail about its plan to do this or anything else. Perhaps this accounts for their poor showing in the 2020 WZC elections. Likewise, Kol Israel specifically commits to “combatting antisemitism on college campuses” but otherwise seems to be suffering from mismanaged priorities like “bringing the Olympics to Israel in 2048.” If any American Jews are spending time thinking about the Olympics now, or in 2048, with hostages still being held by Hamas, they should consider doing something else, like joining Run for Their Lives.
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In contrast, Israel365Action, a new slate that came under fire for its unacknowledged involvement with right-wing Christian organizations—and responded by being more explicit about its commitment to such partnerships—does not make mention of anti-Semitism in its two-page platform. However, a slate that characterizes a potential Palestinian state as “a terrorist breeding ground [that would] threat[en] Israel’s existence” and derides the “timid leadership [that] has created a generation of young Jews … amore likely to support a Palestinian state than stand proudly for their own heritage” would most likely not be soft on anti-Semitism.
Some of the more Orthodox platforms, which number nine slates to make up nearly half of the lists represented, unabashedly tout agendas that advocate for making Israel into a more religious state and bringing diaspora Jewry closer to religious Judaism without addressing anti-Semitism. Eretz Hakodesh, a slate that came in third last election and raised the representation of Haredi Jews at the WZC to 16 percent despite making up only five percent of American Jewry, strives for “a vibrant Israel rooted in Torah” and believes that this Torah “should play a central role in modern Israel.” Shas Olami, the Sephardi Orthodox slate of Rav Ovadia Yosef, likewise promises to “perpetuate our Jewish heritage through the teaching of authentic Torah values in Israel and throughout the Jewish world.”
Another platform that could be considered Orthodox, though many mainstream Orthodox Jews take issue with their politics, is Dorshei Torah V’Tzion (DTT), which, for unknown reasons, uses anti-Zionism but not anti-Semitism when talking about the situation on college campuses. Supported by the Orthodox women’s yeshiva that was the first to give ordination to women rabbis, Maharat, the platform appears to advocate for “Israel’s right to exist … on university campuses,” but nothing related to that goal appears in its specific proposals. Rather, these are overtaken by action items on some of the most controversial issues in religious Israeli society. In that vein, DTT aims to provide a path for legal marriage for all Israeli citizens—currently only marriages through the Orthodox Rabbinate are allowed—recognize conversions from outside Israel, and secure equal funding for women’s midrashot—Jewish women’s learning centers—among other things. Solving these issues, many Americans might feel, needs to at least take an equal place with concrete action against anti-Semitism, as does not seem to be the case in the DTT slate.
On the other hand, the radical left is also not immune to letting its idealistic agenda dominate their platform at the expense of foregrounding the fight against anti-Semitism. Hatikva: The Progressive Slate says that their Zionism includes “social equality, LGBTQI+ equality, and racial and economic justice for all” but fails to recognize that calling for “an immediate negotiated end to the war in Gaza” and “Gaza reconstruction” without a change in Gaza leadership would necessarily lead to continued terrorism, a continued threat of the Zionist dream of Jewish self-determinacy, and continued anti-Semitism. ANU-A New Union, another progressive platform, explicitly calls for a “two-state solution that allows Israelis and Palestinians to live peacefully side by side” but makes no mention of either Oct 7 or the very real barrier to peace it represents, in the U.S. or Israel. This platform, too, has a universalist bent, “advocating for policies supporting an inclusive Jewish life in all its forms,” and it is not difficult to see where the ungroundedness of the left allowed the right to overtake them in the last election.
One of the more enigmatic platforms, The Vision, a branch of Rav Oury Cherki’s Brit Olam organization, purports to be the “only list … exclusively running young activists … at the forefront of today’s battles over Jewish liberation, identity and Israel’s legitimacy on campus.” As is made more clear by its website, it aims to take the best ideas from the right and left and combine them, meaning that it supports both keeping Judea and Samaria and allowing Palestinians to have rights. They say that a two-state solution “cannot succeed” and instead support one state “between the river and to the sea” with “dignity for … Jew and Gentile alike.” Though the many failed attempts to have Palestinians accept a two-state solution buttress their point, a one-state solution is also extremely unpopular, possibly antithetical to Zionism itself, and probably not viable. Vision was successful in the last congress in passing a resolution to declare the Jewish people indigenous to the land of Israel, which fits into their aim to “decolon[ize] Jewish identity.” Yet even that aim shows their willingness to buy into the settler colonial narrative, rather than discard it entirely, and in general, they seem to be trying to fit a conservative peg into a liberal hole.
Other than AID, all the other platforms both make explicit mention of anti-Semitism and have well-rounded agendas. Some might avoid AID anyway, as well as Beyachad, as being too particularist; they represent the Israeli American and Russian Jewish American communities, respectively. Those wishing to vote along the lines of their own Jewish movement while supporting the fight against anti-Semitism will not be disappointed: Mercaz, the Conservative/Masorti list, OIC-The Orthodox Israel Coalition/Mizrachi, the slate of the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America, and Vote Reform, the Reform Movement’s slate, all stay true to the philosophies of their movements will pledging to combat anti-Semitism.
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Two standouts amongst all the platforms concerning anti-Semitism are Am Yisrael Chai and Achdut. Am Yisrael Chai begins its two-pager with the words “Since Oct 7” and seems to be heavily invested in supporting young Jews on college campuses, having a vast network of ambassadors placed at universities worldwide. Achdut’s two-pager explicitly states that the slate was founded in response to October 7, mentions anti-Semitism regarding both Israel and the Diaspora, and aims to provide self-defense education to “strengthen Jewish resilience worldwide.” Another stand-out is Aish Ha’am, the platform of Aish, the powerful Orthodox kiruv organization, which has Shabbos Kestenbaum, the Jewish student who is suing Harvard for anti-Semitism, as one of its supporters. Lastly, ZOA, the platform of the Zionist Organization of America, which is supported by Betar, the organization that aided in the visa-revocation of anti-Semitic activists on college campuses, was present at the first World Zionist Congress and has sponsored many vital actions since then, including passing anti-BDS legislation and speaking out against UNRWA.
While not every platform was explicitly mentioned in this article, the stance of every slate regarding anti-Semitism should have been made clear. Anti-Semitism is only one issue in the host of concerns being debated in this election, but it is perhaps the most important one, as a World Congress that cannot act against anti-Semitism would be weak indeed, and even possibly unable to address the other issues that certain of the platforms seem to care exclusively about. Alternatively, a World Congress that is empowered to act against anti-Semitism will have the resources to do so—the budget allocation for this election is $1 billion.
American Jews should bear these things in mind as they cast their vote. Act now, and act in strength; the polls close May 4.
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Image: “Pro-Palestinian demonstrators, students and faculty members have set up tents on the front lawn at King’s College Circle at the University of Toronto since May 2, 2024” by Can Pac Swire on Flickr
