Message to the government: The World Zionist Congress approved a resolution against the legal revolution - voila! news

Video: A riot breaks out at the plenary session of the World Zionist Congress over the legal revolution (Walla system!)

On Tuesday evening, the World Zionist Congress passed a series of resolutions relating to and contrary to government policy. Decisions were approved contrary to the legal revolution led by the government, it was decided to strengthen ties with the LGBT communities, to demand that no change be made in the Law of Return, and to decide to increase women's representation in national institutions.

These are resolutions promoted by the center-left factions in the Zionist Congress: Yisrael Beiteinu, Labor, Meretz, Yesh Atid, Reform, Conservative and Zionist youth. They were promoted despite the opposition of the coalition parties – the Likud, Shas, Mizrahi, which represents religious Zionism, and the Holy Land faction, which is linked to the flag of the Torah. The votes were held online, about a month after the special Zionist Congress convened for Israel's 75th Independence Day, and the center-left parties in the Congress won a large majority.

A statement approved by Congress against the legal revolution states that "the Zionist Congress believes that changing the constitutional structure of the State of Israel can only be done with broad public consensus, as a result of honest and genuine dialogue and as part of a process of mending the rifts in Israeli society as a whole. The Zionist Congress calls on the government to reach agreements that will strengthen the democratic character of the State of Israel and the checks and balances of the governmental structure, while protecting human rights, minorities and women."

In addition, a resolution was passed anchoring the values of the Declaration of Independence in the activities of the World Zionist Organization. Congress also passed a resolution calling on the government not to change the Law of Return, despite agreeing to change the law as part of coalition agreements. "Whereas such a change in the Law of Return will push out hundreds of thousands of people who are from the seed of Israel and will also severely harm immigration to the State of Israel," the resolution reads. "The Zionist Congress calls not to change the Law of Return and not to try to limit its contents. The Zionist Organization will act to defend against any change in the Law of Return, which is the bedrock of Zionism."

A resolution calling on the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization to find a way to mark Pride Week (Photo: Flash 90, Jonathan Zindel)

Another significant decision passed concerns strengthening ties with the LGBT community. It states that "the Zionist movement and national institutions will be a home for every Jew, from all over the world, and from every sector. The Congress calls for increased awareness and inclusion education: deepening awareness and educational activity related to LGBT inclusion, within Zionist activity in Israel and the Diaspora, through workshops, seminars and other educational initiatives." The resolution also calls on the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization to find an appropriate way to mark Pride Week.

The center-left bloc welcomed the approval of the resolutions in Congress. Deputy Chairman of the Zionist Organization Dr. Yizhar Hess, a representative of the Conservative movement, said that this was a clear message to the Israeli government. "Only an Israel that is Jewish and democratic can faithfully represent the Zionist vision," Hess argued. "Only such a state that is welcoming to every Jew, one that respects the rights of minorities and maintains a strong Supreme Court, can proudly celebrate being the nation-state of the Jewish people."

Dror Morag, Meretz board member of the World Zionist Organization, said that "the resolutions will strengthen our work with the gay community and disadvantaged populations, increase representation for women, preserve Israel's democratic character by opposing the regime coup, and establish the Declaration of Independence as the founding document of the organization and the state, according to whose values the organization will be conducted." Gusti Joshua Braverman, a representative of the Reform Movement, said: "The Zionist table has spoken. Yes to the values of the Declaration of Independence, yes to religious and ideological pluralism. We are glad that the attempts of anti-Zionist elements to change the character of the Zionist movement have been a crushing defeat."

The First Zionist Congress, Basel, 1897 (Photo: Walla! NEWS, JNF Photo Archive)

The World Zionist Congress is a historic body that existed even before the establishment of the state. It was founded in 1897 in Basel, and constituted a kind of supreme Jewish parliament in which representatives of all Zionist organizations sat. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist Congress has brought together all four national institutions – the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, Keren Hayesod and the World Zionist Organization. It includes representatives from all parties on the political spectrum in Israel and from all the Jewish streams and major Zionist organizations, from more than 40 countries around the world. The delegates meet periodically to elect the leadership of national institutions and set their own policies.

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