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By: Abe Wertenheim
The American Zionist Movement (AZM) announced this week the certification of the results of the 2025 World Zionist Congress (WZC) election, marking an unprecedented moment in American Jewish political engagement and global Zionist history. As Israel National News (INN) reported on Thursday. a record-breaking 224,969 valid votes were cast between March 10 and May 4, representing an 80% surge over the 2020 U.S. election for the Congress and the highest turnout ever recorded.
The final certification confirms that the United States will send 155 delegates to Jerusalem for the 39th World Zionist Congress, scheduled for October 28–30, 2025. These American delegates, comprising nearly one-third of the elected global body, will join colleagues from around the world in determining the allocation of over $1 billion annually in support of Israel and the Jewish people worldwide.
“This record-setting turnout underscores that the Zionist movement in the United States is stronger than ever,” said Herbert Block, Executive Director of AZM. “American Jews’ participation ensures that our delegation to the 39th World Zionist Congress will have unparalleled influence in advancing Jewish and Zionist causes of the highest priority,” he added, in remarks cited in the INN report.
The sheer scale of participation stunned veteran observers of Jewish communal politics. According to the AZM, 22 slates representing a vast spectrum of political, religious, and cultural identities competed for seats in 2025, a dramatic increase from 14 slates in the prior election. This 57% growth reflects both the intensifying stakes of Zionist politics and the widening engagement of American Jews across ideological divides.
As the Israel National News report emphasized, the result has redefined the American role in the WZC. “The Congress, following in the footsteps of Theodor Herzl’s original gathering in Basel in 1897, has become the preeminent forum where the Jewish world negotiates identity, policy, and the future of Israel,” INN observed.
The record turnout reveals not only enthusiasm but also deep contestation. Competing visions for the Jewish state—from Orthodox traditionalism to progressive reform, from nationalist right-wing to centrist liberal Zionism—were on display in a campaign that galvanized U.S. Jewish communities from coast to coast.
The certified results, released after review by the AZM’s Area Election Committee, the AZM Tribunal, and the World Zionist Organization’s Supreme Court in Israel, reveal the following breakdown:
VOTE REFORM: 47,648 votes, 33 delegates
Am Yisrael Chai: Investing in Jewish leadership: 30,114 votes, 21 delegates
Eretz HaKodesh: Protecting the Kedusha and Mesorah of Eretz Yisrael: 28,165 votes, 19 delegates
MERCAZ USA (Conservative/Masorti): 27,765 votes, 19 delegates
Orthodox Israel Coalition – Mizrachi: 26,640 votes, 18 delegates
HATIKVAH (Progressive Slate): 11,505 votes, 8 delegates
ZOA Coalition: 8,402 votes, 6 delegates
Aish Ha’am: 6,564 votes, 5 delegates
Kol Israel: 5,278 votes, 4 delegates
Israeli American Council (IAC): 5,275 votes, 4 delegates
VISION: 5,214 votes, 4 delegates
AID Coalition (America-Israel Democracy): 4,844 votes, 3 delegates
Beyachad – Together for Israel: 3,048 votes, 2 delegates
Shas: 2,492 votes, 2 delegates
Israel365 Action: 2,322 votes, 2 delegates
Dorshei Torah V’Tzion: 1,939 votes, 1 delegate
The Jewish Future (Centrist Liberal Zionism): 1,787 votes, 1 delegate
ANU: A New Union: 1,504 votes, 1 delegate
American Forum for Israel: 1,472 votes, 1 delegate
Herut North America (Jabotinsky Movement): 1,100 votes, 1 delegate
Americans 4 Israel: 382 votes, no seat earned
Achdut Israel: 1,509 votes, slate disqualified
The pluralism of these results, as the INN report noted, highlights the broad representation of American Jewish life in global Zionism. From mainstream Reform and Conservative voices to Orthodox and nationalist movements, the Congress mirrors the ongoing debates over Jewish identity, Israel-Diaspora relations, and the moral responsibilities of the Jewish state.
Delegates elected to the World Zionist Congress wield substantial influence. As Israel National News reported, they collectively oversee the distribution of more than $1 billion annually through institutions like the Jewish Agency for Israel, the World Zionist Organization, and Keren Kayemet LeYisrael–Jewish National Fund.
This funding supports an array of programs: immigration and absorption in Israel, Jewish education worldwide, religious and cultural initiatives, land reclamation and afforestation projects, and political advocacy for Israel on the world stage. The allocation battles—shaped by the ideological leanings of delegations—often determine whether funding flows toward settlement activity in Judea and Samaria, pluralistic Jewish education in the Diaspora, or social justice initiatives inside Israel.
“This is why turnout matters so profoundly,” an AZM source told INN. “Each vote influences not just symbolic representation, but the very real budgetary commitments that define the future of Zionism worldwide.”
The World Zionist Congress traces its origins to 1897, when Theodor Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. Then, a mere 200 delegates proclaimed the Jewish right to national self-determination, laying the groundwork for the eventual establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
Today, as the report at Israel National News emphasized, the Congress has evolved into a modern parliament of the Jewish people. It is the only democratically elected transnational Jewish body, empowering Jews from across the globe to weigh in on matters that directly affect Israel and Jewish communities worldwide.
The 2025 gathering in Jerusalem promises to be especially pivotal. With Israel still navigating the aftermath of its wars against Hamas and Hezbollah, questions of security, Diaspora solidarity, and Jewish identity loom large. The WZC will serve as the arena where these issues collide.
The U.S. delegation’s size—155 delegates, nearly a third of the elected total—ensures that American Jews play an outsized role in shaping the Congress’s agenda. As the INN report stressed, this gives American Zionist organizations immense leverage over the ideological and financial direction of global Zionism.
“America’s participation is not only unprecedented in size but also in diversity,” said Herbert Block. “This Congress will hear from every major strand of Jewish life in the United States—from Reform temples to Orthodox yeshivot, from grassroots activists to veteran organizations.”
For U.S. delegates, this also represents an opportunity to assert Diaspora perspectives on pressing Israeli issues, including religious pluralism, settlement expansion, and the evolving U.S.-Israel relationship.
The campaign leading up to the 2025 WZC was not without controversy. As the INN report noted, debates over settlements, the two-state solution, and religious pluralism often became flashpoints. Some slates, such as Israel365 Action, explicitly campaigned against a two-state framework and for expanded sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, while others, such as Hatikvah, pushed for progressive reforms and greater emphasis on human rights.
Meanwhile, the disqualification of Achdut Israel raised eyebrows. Though details remain sparse, the AZM confirmed that the slate failed to comply with election rules, underscoring the rigorous oversight processes in place to ensure fairness.
When delegates gather in Jerusalem in October, they will not only debate budgets and ideology but also confront the deeper existential questions facing Zionism in the 21st century. How should Israel balance its identity as a Jewish and democratic state? What role should Diaspora communities play in Israeli decision-making? How should global Zionism respond to rising antisemitism, shifting U.S. political landscapes, and new geopolitical realities?
As the Israel National News report observed, these debates will resonate far beyond the walls of the Congress. “The WZC is where the Jewish people worldwide articulate their priorities, assert their values, and shape the institutions that define Israel and Diaspora Jewry alike,” the outlet wrote.
The certification of the 2025 U.S. WZC election results represents more than just a bureaucratic milestone. It signals a renewed vitality in American Zionism, a willingness among nearly a quarter-million Jews to participate in shaping the destiny of Israel and the Jewish people.
As Herzl envisioned in Basel 128 years ago, the Zionist Congress remains a beacon of Jewish self-determination. And as Israel National News concluded in its coverage, “With record-breaking turnout and unprecedented representation, American Jewry has reaffirmed that its voice remains central to the future of Israel and Zionism.”
When the Congress convenes in Jerusalem this fall, the eyes of the Jewish world will be upon it. In its debates and decisions will lie not only the allocation of billions of dollars but the very contours of the Jewish future.