Liberal Reform Jews win in US election for Zionist congress
The liberal Reform Jewish movement has emerged as the biggest winner in an election seen as a bellwether of American Zionist sentiment.
The Zionist arm of Reform Judaism won the greatest share of delegates for the World Zionist Congress, which will meet this October in Jerusalem. The congress sets policies, elects members of key committees and helps oversee three major Israeli bodies: the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund and the World Zionist Organization.
The U.S. election for delegates to the congress ran from January to April. The Reform movement won 56 of the 145 US seats in the assembly, while the Conservative Jewish movement won 25 seats and the Orthodox won 24. The rest of the seats were split among several other groups. The results were announced Friday.
