INSIGHTS
Hatikvah: Reflections on the World Zionist Congress
By Jeremy Ben-Ami
This was a personal reflection from Jeremy Ben-Ami, President and founder of J Street, sent to the members of the Hatikvah Slate after the end of the World Zionist Congress. These thoughts are personal and not an official J Street statement.
The Basics: What Is the World Zionist Congress?
Founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897 in Basel, the World Zionist Congress was envisioned as the parliament of the Jewish people, guiding the Zionist movement’s path to establishing a Jewish homeland. After the State of Israel was founded in 1948, the Congress and the “national institutions” it created – the World Zionist Organization (WZO), Jewish Agency for Israel, and Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth L’Israel) – continued to operate.
Though the structures, names, acronyms, etc. can make eyes glaze over, these institutions remain powerful today, overseeing billions of dollars raised and spent worldwide, including in Israel and, in some cases, the occupied territories.
The Congress meets every five years, with 775 delegates. About 500 are elected – roughly one-third from Israel (based on Knesset results) and two-thirds from Jewish communities around the world, including in the U.S. through the American Zionist Movement elections.
The Hatikvah Slate
I ran on Hatikvah (“The Hope”), a slate representing progressive Jewish organizations in the U.S. committed to liberal, democratic values, Jewish pluralism, and aligning those values with the idea that the Jewish people have the right to a national homeland.
Hatikvah is a joint project of J Street and partners in the Progressive Israel Network – including New Jewish Narrative, Partners for Progressive Israel, T’ruah, the Reconstructionist Movement, New York Jewish Agenda and the youth movements Habonim Dror and Hashomer Hatzair.
This year, we earned over 11,000 votes, our best result ever, winning 8 seats in the U.S. delegation. But the overall composition of the US delegation shifted rightward, as far-right and ultra-Orthodox organizations mobilized large voter blocs, often through yeshivas and affiliated institutions. It remains far harder to engage progressive, less institutionally connected American Jews in an election for Zionist institutions that may feel distant or outdated.
There was also confirmed voter fraud in this election – acknowledged by election authorities, though in the end inadequately punished.
Our Hatikvah delegates were split between two global political “unions”: one affiliated with Israel’s historic Labor Party and the other with Meretz. In Israel, those parties have merged into a new political framework called The Democrats, but their international wings remain separate. Personally, I hope these two will eventually merge globally as well – uniting liberal Jews globally under one clear “Democratic” banner at a time when democracy is under assault from the far right worldwide.
What Happened at the Congress
The Congress met over three days. Its work has two main parts:
Electing the leadership of the national institutions for the next five years. Debating and passing resolutions that guide their policy and priorities. Much of the work happens in ten committees that prepare resolutions for the plenary. I served on the Sovereignty and Borders Committee, which dealt with three major resolutions:
Two right-wing proposals supporting Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount and the West Bank. Our own proposal opposing development of the E-1 settlement, with an amendment prohibiting any direct or indirect institutional and financial support for E-1. In our committee of about 50 delegates, we defeated both right-wing resolutions with a coalition of center and center-left votes. We strengthened our E-1 resolution but lost it by a single vote. I moved successfully to bring it nonetheless to the plenary floor.
Across other committees, our coalition – made up of Labor, Meretz, Reform and Conservative movements, and centrist Israeli parties like Yesh Atid, Blue and White, and occasionally even Yisrael Beiteinu – passed numerous progressive resolutions. We also worked well with centrists groups such as Hadassah and WIZO on a number of these, including:
- A prohibition on support for resettling Gaza
- Open and egalitarian access to the Western Wall
- Condemnation of hate speech and embrace of diverse views in Zionist communities
- Support for a state commission of inquiry into October 7
- Protection of Israeli civil society institutions
- Promotion of women’s leadership roles in the Jewish world
- (And, yes, plenty of less controversial resolutions on mental health, Hebrew education, and more.)
In the Plenary Session
Our coalition largely held together in the plenary. Nearly every resolution we supported passed, and nearly every one we opposed failed.
There were exceptions – specifically on resolutions addressing antisemitism. Many in the center are willing to back overly broad definitions of antisemitism, similar to the IHRA definition, because of their overriding concerns with rising global antisemitism. Our concerns about free speech and conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism did not carry the day. This remains an area where our movement needs stronger messaging and education.
When our E-1 resolution came to the floor, the right wing walked out in an effort to prevent a quorum. The vote still went ahead, and we won 219–39, with 67 abstentions (325 votes cast out of 775). There was some dispute over whether this constituted a quorum, but we believe that, since the delegates were there and had been voting, that the quorum had already been established.
In any event, the motion passed by such a margin that it’s unclear if the right could have flipped the result if they’d stayed. Clearly that’s why they left! While the question will be brought to the legal counsel for the Congress, the takeaway is still that a broad coalition is willing to oppose using our money for settlement expansion. It was a real victory for our side.
Other Developments
The other major task was electing officers of the national institutions. A compromise deal had been reached giving the political “center” more representation, including leadership rotation for Yesh Atid representatives and slightly expanded roles for progressives on the board.
That agreement unraveled when Yair Netanyahu, the Prime Minister’s son, was suddenly announced as having been appointed to a key Jewish Agency position focused on diaspora relations. Given his record of racist and extremist rhetoric, our factions are refusing to proceed until that appointment is withdrawn. As a result, the Congress has gone into recess without finalizing appointments. Delegates are now on standby to vote electronically in two weeks if /when the issue is resolved.
Reflections
If you’ve read this far, you deserve a medal. But I hope it gives a sense of why – despite all the arcane procedure and political maneuvering – this gathering still matters.
There’s something powerful about sitting in this forum after 130 years, debating the core principles and values of the Jewish people with thousands of Jews from across the world and political spectrum.
Yes, it’s messy. Yes, it can feel distant or bureaucratic. But being there reminded me how important it is that liberal, democratic voices stay at the table, challenging the far right, pushing for justice, and defending the core values of both Zionism and democracy.
Personally, I leave the Congress re-energized. I see the value of continuing to build a strong liberal democratic camp across the global Jewish community – one capable of steering Israel, and the Jewish people as a whole, toward a more just and hopeful future.
To everyone who worked alongside me on this campaign and at the Congress: thank you. The pendulum is slow to swing, but it is swinging. Let’s keep at it – in all the upcoming elections in the U.S., in Israel, and beyond.
Jeremy Ben-Ami is the President of J Street, bringing to the role both deep experience in American politics and government and a passionate commitment to the state of Israel. Ben-Ami’s family connection to Israel goes back 140 years to the first aliyah when his great-grandparents were among the first settlers in Petah Tikva. His grandparents were one of the founding families of Tel Aviv, and his father was an activist and leader in the Irgun, working for Israel’s independence and on the rescue of European Jews before and during World War II.
His political resume includes serving in the mid-1990s as the Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor in the White House to President Bill Clinton and working on seven Presidential and numerous state and local campaigns including helping to manage a Mayoral campaign in New York City in 2001. For nearly three years in the late 90s, Jeremy lived in Israel, where he started a consulting firm working with Israeli non-profit organizations and politicians. Ben-Ami received a law degree from New York University and is a graduate of the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
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