The American Zionist Movement has announced the results of the elections to select the American delegation to the 37th World Zionist Congress in October, 2015 and we are pleased to share that we have significantly increased our representation. The Hatikvah slate, representing Ameinu, Habonim Dror, Partners for Progressive Israel and Hashomer Hatzair, went from five to eight delegates compared to the last election, an increase of 60%.
As this was accomplished in the face of organizations with far better infrastructure and much larger budgets, we deserve to be pleased with the results of our grassroots campaign waged on behalf of the progressive Zionist movement in America. Moreover, the Hativah slate was forced to spend four months and significant financial and human resources defending ourselves from distortions by the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) and their allies aimed to expel progressive Zionists from the Zionist movement and to limit use of the eternal symbols of Zionism, like the name Hatikvah, solely to the Zionist right.
At the end of the day the Zionist legal system completely vindicated the rights and positions of progressive Zionists and dismissed the ZOA case. As we argued in the campaign, and are committed to continuing to fight now that the results are in, the global BDS movement seeks to delegitimize Israel and threaten both Israeli and Palestinian futures. But progressive Zionists also know that the occupation of the West Bank and the suppression of Palestinian national rights is an existential threat to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. And so we will continue to struggle for peace, democracy, coexistence, justice, and of course, for a two state solution.
The Hativah Campaign leadership would like to thank all of you for your support of the effort and your vote. In addition to the electoral accomplishment, this campaign gave us the opportunity to present our vision for Israel to the American Jewish community.
At the Congress we will sit together with our Reform colleagues in a joint caucus, so ARZA’s first place finish with 56 delegates is also very good news. Based upon the results of the Israeli elections and the delegate selection process around the world, it appears that we will have the largest caucus at the Congress. We look forward to using that political position to impact both Israel and the Diaspora Jewish community in ways that realize our platform and ideals.
Immediately below, you will find the complete election results.
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| Election of American Delegates to the 37th World Zionist Congress |
|
|
| Slate | Votes |
Final Delegate Distribution |
| ARZA: Representing Reform Judaism |
21,766 |
56* |
| Mercaz USA: The Zionist Arm of the Conservative Movement |
9,890 |
25 |
| Religious Zionists: Vote Torah for the Soul of Israel |
9,594 |
24 |
| American Forum for Israel |
3,773 |
10* |
| HATIKVAH – The Progressive Zionist Voice |
3,148 |
8 |
| ZIONIST ORGANIZATION of AMERICA/ZOA: DefendJews&IsraeliRights |
2,738 |
7* |
| Zionist Spring: Restoring Vision to World Zionism |
2,696 |
7* |
| World Sephardic Zionist Organization – Ohavei Zion |
1,650 |
4 |
| Alliance for New Zionist Vision |
735 |
2* |
| Green Israel: Aytzim/Green Zionist Alliance/Jewcology |
443 |
1 |
| Herut North America – The Jabotinsky Movement |
304 |
1* |
| Total |
56,737 |
145 |
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The electoral factor for this election was 391.3 votes. For every 391.3 votes a slate wins a delegate. By this method 139 delegates were distributed among the slates. The six additional delegates were distributed to the slates with the highest fractions (remainders).
An asterisk (*) following a number indicates that one delegate was won by virtue of getting a remainder.
