200px|right|thumb|The [[Second Zionist Congress, held in Basel, Switzerland (1898).]]

thumb|Participant card for the first Zionist congress in Basel, [[Jewish Musem of Switzerland|Jewish Museum of Switzerland.]]

The Zionist Congress was established in 1897 by Theodor Herzl as the supreme organ of the Zionist Organization (ZO) and its legislative authority. In 1960, the names were changed to World Zionist Congress ( HaKongres HaTsioni HaOlami) and World Zionist Organization (WZO), respectively. The World Zionist Organization elects the officers and decides on the policies of the WZO and the Jewish Agency, including "determining the allocation of funds." The First Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland in 1897. 38% of the delegates are allocated to Israel, 29% to the United States of America, and 33% to the remainder of the countries of the Diaspora.

The 39th World Zionist Congress convened in Jerusalem from October 28–30, 2025.

Representatives at the World Zionist Congress

The World Zionist Congress includes representatives of Zionist World Unions, Women's Zionist Organizations with Special Status and International Jewish Organizations. and is affiliated with the Netzer Olami youth organization.

  • United Faction: Kadima–HaNoar HaTzioni– MERCAZ
  • World Mizrachi/Ichud Le'umi/Herut/Yisrael Beytenu/Moledet/Tkuma
  • World Likud/Shas
  • Hadassah/Confederation
  • Over The Rainbow – the Zionist movement

Israeli representatives

Since the creation of the State of Israel, there are no elections held for Israeli delegates to the World Zionist Congress. Rather, elections to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, are deemed to fulfill this function, and Zionist parties represented in the Knesset are apportioned a number of Congress delegates proportional to their strength in the Knesset. The late left-wing leader Shulamit Aloni on several occasions criticized this practice, stating that "Most Israeli citizens neither know nor care that when they go to the polls they are among other things also electing delegates to the World Zionist Congress."

Zionist organizations with special status

Two women's organizations have special status in the Zionist Organization and have full voting rights:

  • Women's International Zionist Organization – is an international, non-party Zionist body, which receives global representation by virtue of an agreement entered into in 1964.
  • Hadassah – received special status by virtue of a decision of the Zionist General Council, in 1994. even if not all their members are declared Zionists. These bodies have limited voting rights they do not vote on matters of candidature and elections to the institutions of the WZO.

|-

! Country/Region

! Members

! Delegates

|-

| Poland

| style="text-align:center;"|299,165

| style="text-align:center;"|109

|-

| US

| style="text-align:center;"|263,741

| style="text-align:center;"|114

|-

| Palestine

| style="text-align:center;"|167,562

| style="text-align:center;"|134

|-

| Romania

| style="text-align:center;"|60,013

| style="text-align:center;"|28

|-

| United Kingdom

| style="text-align:center;"|23,513

| style="text-align:center;"|15

|-

| South Africa

| style="text-align:center;"|22,343

| style="text-align:center;"|14

|-

| Canada

| style="text-align:center;"|15,220

| style="text-align:center;"|8

|}

thumb|12th Zionist Congress, Carlsbad 1921

thumb|16th Zionist Congress, Zurich 1929

thumb|20th Zionist Congress, Zurich 1937

upright|thumb|23rd Zionist Congress, Israeli postal stamp

thumb|25th Zionist Congress, Jerusalem, 1960

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|- style="background:#CCCCCC;"

! Number

! Name

! City

!Country

! Year

|-

| 1 || || Basel|| ||

|-

| 3 || || Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary)|| ||

|-

| 14 || || Vienna|| ||

|-

| 15 || || Basel|| ||

|-

| 16 || || Zürich|| ||

|-

| 17 || || Jerusalem || ||

|-

| 37 || || Jerusalem || ||

|-

| 38 || || Jerusalem || ||

|-

|39

|Thirty-ninth Zionist Congress

  • The Twenty-third Zionist Congress, held in 1951 in Jerusalem, was the first to be held after the establishment of the State of Israel, and the first held in Jerusalem, which would become the norm. It was opened at the graveside of Theodor Herzl, whose remains had been moved from Vienna and reburied on the top of a hill in Jerusalem that was renamed after him, Mount Herzl. The Congress issued the Jerusalem Program, placing its main focus on the newly created state as the central unifying element for the Jewish people.

See also

  • 1st Zionist Congress (1897)
  • 6th Zionist Congress (1903)
  • Jerusalem Program of the WZC: 1951, 1968, 2004, 2024
  • Jewish Agency for Israel
  • List of Jewish leaders in the Land of Israel
  • World Zionist Organization (1897-1960: Zionist Organization)

References

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