With international condemnation over its policy on Gaza, settlement expansion and the recent deadly raid on an aid flotilla to Gaza, Israel is certainly under pressure. This month, it also found itself at odds with another powerful Jewish presence – the World Zionist Congress.
The WZC - the largest gathering of Zionist Jews from all over the world - congregates every four years; for its 36th meeting, which took place June 15 to 17, the organization drew 750 delegates to Jerusalem.
The biggest differences the WZC has with the actions of the current Israeli government can be found in the resolutions it passed, which didn’t garner much attention in Israeli media, but can be seen as an invaluable tool for assessing the mood of the Jewish world.
This year, the congress took aim at some of the legislation that the current Israeli administration is promoting, signalling a division between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora on several fronts.
The congress expressed its displeasure at the proposed "conversion bill," which was passed in a preliminary reading by the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and would give the Chief Rabbinate total power over conversions in Israel. The WZC adopted a resolution opposing the bill, as well as "any future legislative action which prejudices the right of all the Jewish communities in Israel and the Diaspora to act in the domain of conversion."
Reflecting the outrage expressed by many Conservative and Reform religious leaders, the WZC resolution argued that the conversion bill could exacerbate discrimination against non-Orthodox converted Jews. The Congress called on the government of Israel to "put an end to the continuing discrimination against the non-Orthodox communities," by, among other things, establishing "the full freedom of marriage and family in the State of Israel" and "the right to be buried in a manner appropriate to one's lives and values."
The congress also addressed environmental concerns, which it appears to view as part of the Zionist dream. Green resolutions passed by the congress called for "abating climate change" by "enhancing the teaching of environmental threats facing Israel and the rest of the world."
While many Israelis are aware of the environmental threats the country faces, including the dire water shortage, the environmental agenda is not a priority for the state of Israel. Where most major developed countries implore their citizens to recycle, in Israel, such measures are optional at best, and in many places simply don’t exist.
On a different note, after welcoming chants against "McCarthyism," the WZC also rejected by an overwhelming majority a proposal by World Likud to call upon "all academic institutions in Israel to expel all professors who conduct propaganda against the State," and to offer "financial support to these institutions conditional upon the dismissal of such lecturers."
The congress' decision came just weeks before the Knesset, in mid-July, approved the preliminary reading of a bill that would see fines of NIS 30,000 for any person calling for a boycott of Israel. The general political atmosphere in Israel is increasingly against organizations that criticize the state. In the Jewish world, however, it seems that measures are being taken to insure that these values are upheld in the Jewish state, in an effort to preserve its democratic character.
Finally, the congress overwhelmingly rejected the addition of Jewish holy sites in the West Bank, including the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, to the country's list of heritage sites; this goes against a bill that the government passed in February. Moreover, the congress' resolution called upon "the Government of Israel to act in the spirit of the Bar-Ilan Speech, in order to maintain the democratic and Zionist character of the State of Israel" and supported the prime minister "in his decision to freeze construction in the Territories."
These are important declarations against efforts to legitimize settlement construction and other Israeli activity in the West Bank. At a time when Netanyahu is under pressure not to renew the moratorium on construction freeze in the West Bank, the Zionist Congress clearly supports the freeze, and wants to see it extended.
The 36th meeting of the World Zionist Congress proved something: A gap does exist between the Jewish world and the government of Israel. The Jewish world is liberal and wants religious freedom. It supports renewing the Zionist dream from an environmental perspective. It still defends democracy and freedom of speech. And, finally, it supports a two-state solution and a settlement construction freeze. Are these glaring differences resolvable, or do they signal rocky times ahead for the Jewish Diaspora and Israel?
