In Defense of Progressive Values at the World Zionist Congress

If we told you there was a once in five years opportunity to make your voice heard in a global process that will determine how five billion dollars are spent on Jewish and Israeli projects, would you consider that important? What if we told you that, by participating, you could fight against settlement expansion and annexation? What would you think if you knew that, by voting in this election, you could stand up for religious pluralism, champion gender equity and LGBTQ equality, and work for economic justice? And how about if we added in regional cooperation on environmental sustainability as well treating refugees and asylum seekers with the dignity that they deserve? All of these things and more are part of the HATIKVAH: Progressive Israel Slate platform, in the World Zionist Congress elections that are currently taking place.

And yet, in what can only be described as an effort to suppress the vote among progressive Zionists, who by the way make up the majority of American Jews, Liel Leibovitz describes the World Zionist Organization in a recent Tablet article as “a totally meaningless organization with no real power.” Of course if it is “totally meaningless” then it is unclear why Leibovitz would wave a warning flag about “one well-organized faction set to win the election and then transform these decayed and hollowed institutions”.

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