The 39th World Zionist Congress convened in Jerusalem from October 28–29, 2025.39th World Zionist Congress
World Zionist Congresses choose who will occupy leadership positions, and determine policy for the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and other national institutions, including the Jewish National Fund (JNF), the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and Keren Hayesod.
The national institutions governed by the congress (WZO, JNF, JAFI, and others) collectively spend approximately US$1 billion annually on their activities.
The 39th Congress took place shortly after the beginning of the ceasefire in the 2023—2025 Gaza war.
Delegates The Congress is composed of 525 (increased at the 39th Congress to 543) territorial delegates representing Zionist Organizations all over the world: 203 (38%) from Israel, based on the most recent election results for the Israeli knesset, 155 (29%) from the United States, and the remainder from the rest of the Jewish diaspora (33%). Delegates in the diaspora were elected by votes open to all Jewish adults who asserted agreement with the Jerusalem Program and paid a nominal fee. While this had been the norm in the past in the United States, it was the first time elections were held in several countries where previously the composition of that country's slate was decided by "backroom deals" among Zionist organizations. In total, approximately 265,000 voters participated in the elections.
In addition to the territorial delegates, there are another 232 delegates representing International Jewish organizations (with full voting rights). Distribution of mandates
Source: World Zionist Organization + Distribution of Mandates: 39th World Zionist Congress (2025) Country Mandates Zionist Youth Lavi Olami Merkaz Olami Avoda–Etz Meretz Olami Artzeinu Likud Olami Mizrachi Beiteinu Olami Shas Olami Confederation Eretz HaKodesh Herut Olami Ma'avar LaKeshet Yesh Atid Blue and White National Union Am Yisrael Chai Otzma Yehudit Other (Named Slates) Israel 203 8 63 12 22 47 16 11 10 14 8 – Tikva Hadasha; 2 – Atid Ehad; 2 – Eretz Yisrael Shelanu; 2 – Noam United States 155 4 19 5 3 33 6 18 1 2 4 19 1 21 19 5 – Rosh HaTorah; 4 – IAC; 3 – AID; 2 – B’Yachad; 2 – Israel365; 1 – Jewish Future; 1 – Dorshei Torah VeTzion; 1 – ANU France 21 2 4 2 1 1 6 5 Canada 19 3 2 1 4 1 4 1 2 1 United Kingdom 19 2 2 1 3 3 3 5 Argentina 14 1 3 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 Australia 13 1 1 1 3 1 4 2 Russia 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Global lists 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Brazil 8 1 2 1 1 2 1 Mexico 7 1 1 1 1 1 1 Hungary 6 1 1 1 1 1 1 South Africa 6 1 2 2 Uruguay 6 1 1 1 1 1 1 Belgium 5 1 1 2 1 Ukraine 5 1 1 1 1 Chile 4 1 1 1 1 Italy 3 1 1 1 Venezuela 3 1 1 1 Germany 2 1 1 Netherlands 2 1 1 Sweden 2 1 1 Switzerland 2 1 1 Austria 1 1 Azerbaijan 1 1 Bulgaria 1 1 Belarus 1 1 Colombia 1 1 Costa Rica 1 1 Denmark 1 1 Ecuador 1 1 Greece 1 1 Guatemala 1 1 India 1 1 Kazakhstan 1 1 New Zealand 1 1 Panama 1 1 Paraguay 1 1 Peru 1 1 Romania 1 1 Serbia 1 1 Spain 1 1 Uganda 1 1 International Organizations 26 26 Fixed allocations for WIZO, Hadassah, B’nai B’rith, etc. TOTALS 543 14 5 39 27 25 55 86 42 20 36 8 38 4 2 47 16 11 21 10 33
Israel Israel’s 203 mandates are distributed based on parties’ representation in the current Knesset with non-Zionist Haredi and Arab parties excluded. Likud has 63 seats, followed by Yesh Atid at 47, Religious Zionism 27, National Unity (Benny Gantz) 24, Shas 22, Yisrael Beiteinu 12, and the Israel Labor Party 8. PartyMandates (of 203)PercentagePosition / IdeologyLikud6331.0%Right-wing, conservative-nationalYesh Atid4723.2%Centrist, Liberal ZionismReligious Zionism2713.3%Far-right, religious-nationalistNational Unity2411.8%Center-right, liberal-nationalShas2210.8%Haredi, Sephardi OrthodoxYisrael Beiteinu125.9%Right-wing, secular nationalistIsraeli Labor Party83.9%Center-left, Labor Zionism*Non-Zionist Haredi and Israeli Arab parties excluded.
United States Voting for 155 US delegates occurred from March 10 to May 4, 2025. Twenty-two slates ran candidates, up from thirteen in 2020. 224,969 valid votes were cast, an 80% increase from the 123,575 votes cast in 2020. 18,948 votes were invalidated after an investigation, due to "potentially fraudulent activity". As a result, the Shas USA slate representing religious Sephardic voters was disqualified and three other Orthodox or Haredi slates were penalized. Six slates were suspected of vote fraud: Am Yisrael Chai, Eretz Hakodesh, ZOA, Shas, Herut and Achdut Israel. Upon appeal, Shas was reinstated, and fines were levied against Eretz Hakodesh and ZOA, but their vote count was not penalized. Achdut Israel, which would have otherwise qualified for a seat, was disqualified as its slate did not meet eligibility requirements.
According to an analysis of the initial results by the Times of Israel, right-wing slates won 81 seats while liberal slates won 71 seats and overall, over 40% of the vote was won by right-wing Orthodox and Haredi slates. SlateVotesPercentageSeatsPosition / IdeologyVote Reform47,64821.1%33Reform Judaism, LiberalAm Yisrael Chai30,11413.4%21Orthodox, Right-wing YouthEretz Hakodesh28,16512.5%19Haredi, Right-wing, UTJ-alignedMercaz27,76512.3%19Conservative/Masorti, LiberalOrthodox Israel Coalition26,64011.8%18Modern Orthodox, Religious ZionistHatikvah11,5055.1%8Centre-left, Progressive ZionistZOA Coalition8,4023.73%6Right-wing, Pro-AmericanismAish Ha’am6,5642.92%5Orthodox, Right-wingKol Israel5,2782.35%4Centrist, General ZionistIsraeli-American Council (IAC)5,2752.34%4Israeli American interestsVISION5,2142.32%4Revisionist ZionismAID Coalition (America–Israel Democracy)4,8442.15%3Israeli-American, Anti-NetanyahuBeyachad – TOGETHER FOR ISRAEL3,0481.35%2Russian-American, OrthodoxShas Olami2,4921.11%2Sephardic Orthodox, Shas-affiliatedIsrael365 Action2,3221.03%2Right-wing, Anti–two-state solutionDorshei Torah V’Tzion1,9390.86%1Liberal OrthodoxThe Jewish Future1,7870.79%1Liberal ZionismANU: A New Union1,5040.67%1Pro–two-state, ProgressiveAmerican Forum for Israel1,4720.65%1Yisrael Beiteinu affiliationHerut North America – The Jabotinsky Movement1,1000.49%1Revisionist Zionist, Right-wingAchdut Israel1,5090.67%0Haredi, DisqualifiedAmericans 4 Israel: Strength Through Unity3820.17%0Pro-Americanism WZO Chairman Yaakov Hagoel observed that: “For the first time, the conservative and right-wing bloc has achieved a clear majority."
France The 21 French mandates were distributed as follows: Kol Israel Chai list (Shas and Religious Zionism) 11, Our Country - Centre 4, Meretz 4, Likud 1, List of Eastern France (Mizrachi) 1. Elections were held from April 1 to June 5, 2025.
Slate Votes Percentage Seats Position/Ideology Kol Israel Hai 4,013 53.5% 11 Religious Zionism, Shas Arzenu-Mercaz 1,104 19.8% 4 Progressive/Meretz Sionisme Democratique 903 16.02% 4 Centrist Likud 307 15.5% 1 Right-wing Mizrahi France 307 15.5% 1 Mizrahi Jews Herut 490.9%0Revisionist Zionism, Jabotinskyism Results Source: Canada Voting was conducted from June 5 to June 15, 2025 by the Canadian Zionist Federation and elected a slate that was made up of a majority of progressive delegates. 10 of the 19 delegates elected were affiliated with liberal Judaism and progressive groups. Voting was open to all Canadian Jewish adults, provided they agreed with the Jerusalem Program. Almost 18,000 votes were cast. This was the first election held "in a generation". Usually, Canada's slate is decided by consensus among Canadian Zionist Federation member organizations. The release of results was delayed due to investigation of "irregularities" in the online vote.
19 delegates were elected by 17,878 voters as follows. Slate Votes Seats Position/Ideology Orthodox Israel Coalition —- Mizrahi 4,013 4 Religious Zionism, Modern Orthodox Vote Reform —- ARZA Canada 3,508 4 Reform Judaism Hatikvah Canada Democratic Israel 2,830 3 Ameinu/Meretz liberal progressive United Eretz Hakodesh and Shaas 2,628 3 Haredi Ashkenazi and Shephardic, ultra-Orthodox MERCAZ Canada 2,614 3 Conservative-Masorti Judaism Canadian Forum of Russian-Speaking Jewry - United for Israel1,1061 Russian-speaking Jews, Yisrael Beiteinu Likud Canada/Canadians for a Safe Israel 474 1 Right-wing Zionism, conservative, pro-Netanyahu Canadian Young Judaea 430 0 Zionist youth, centrist Herut Canada 275 0 Revisionist Zionism, Jabotinskyism
United Kingdom 10,651 votes were cast from 8 to 12 June 2025 to elect 19 delegates in an election which saw right-wing Orthodox and left-wing progressive slates gain at the expense of centrists, who were shut out in the first fully-contested election in two decades. Overall, right-wing and Orthodox slates won 11 seats while left-wing and progressive slates won the remaining eight. SlateVotesPercentageSeatsPosition / IdeologyEretz HaKodesh (EHK)4,529—5Ultra-Orthodox HarediShas Olami~1,000—3Sephardi Orthodox; aligned with ShasMizrachi~1,000—3Mainstream Orthodox; led by Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim MirvisOur Israel2,099—5Liberal; Masorti and ReformJewish Labour Movement–Meretz~1,000—3ProgressiveJabotinsky’s Israel——0Right-wing; Likud-alignedKol Israel——0non-denominationalIsrael Solidarity Campaign UK——0UK-Israel RelationshipHaNoar HaTzioni——0Zionism Earlier, the EHK slate had been suspended for publishing an advertisement advising husbands that they could vote on behalf of their wives and children, contrary to election rules. The suspension was subsequently overturned.
According to election rules adopted by the UK elections body, slates could only win a maximum of five seats. Due to this restriction, EHK and Shas ran as separate slates in hopes of winning more seats between them. In other countries, the two ran as a joint slate. Australia Australia's World Zionist Congress election was conducted by the Zionist Federation of Australia from 1 July 2025 to 27 July 2025, electing 13 delegates. The results were: SlateVotesPercentageSeatsPosition / IdeologyARZA–Masorti (joint)——4Liberal Judaism; Reform–MasortiMizrachi Australia——4Mainstream Orthodox; Religious ZionismEretz HaKodesh——2Haredi, ultra-OrthodoxHatikvah Australia——2Labour Zionism; Ameinu/Meretz; progressiveFriends of Likud——1Likud-aligned; right-wing Totals: conservatives 7, progressive/liberal 6.
Shift from 2020: conservatives 5 → 7; progressive/liberal 8 → 6.
Overall, conservative slates won 7 mandates to 6 for progressive/liberal slates - a shift from 2020 when the progressive/liberal slates had 8 mandates to 5 for conservatives.
South Africa South Africa is allotted a total of 6 seats at the WZO. Elections were not held, instead seats were distributed according to each party's relative membership, by agreement of the parties. The breakdown is as follows: SlateVotesPercentageSeatsPosition / IdeologyLikud South Africa——2Right-wing; Likud-alignedMizrachi South Africa——2Orthodox; Religious ZionismArzenu——1Reform Judaism; LiberalSouth African Friends of Labour Israel / Habonim Dror——1Labour Zionism; Progressive The WZO originally reduced the number of seats to South Africa from 6 to 5 based on the drop in South Africa's Jewish population. This issue was taken to the Zionist Supreme Court, the judicial body of the World Zionist Organization. The ruling from the court was the South Africa would be allowed to keep its 6 seats based on the disproportionate level of Zionist activity in the South African Jewish community.
Other countries Delegates from at least 36 other countries were present. They were usually chosen through elections held by each nation's Zionist federation, overseen by a regional election committee.
The Zionist federations in France, Italy, Hungary, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Chile all held elections in 2025 to nominate their delegates. Russia and Ukraine's Jewish communities did not have the option to elect their respective delegates in public elections due to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War.
Proceedings