Charges of voter fraud mar ‘incredibly important’ World Zionist Congress elections
Amid record US Jewish turnout halfway through vote, new allegations threaten the legitimacy of elections that will help allocate $5 billion in funding for Jewish, Israeli causes
Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.

Allegations of voter fraud have been made against several slates in the World Zionist Congress election, challenging the ongoing democratic process in which American Jews can help determine how some $5 billion in funding will be spent on Jewish and Israeli causes over the next five years.
Some of the 22 parties running in the election are calling for those slates to be disqualified, saying their actions threaten the legitimacy of the entire process.
The American Zionist Movement (AZM), the organization administering the election, is investigating claims that people are voting multiple times for the slates of Haredi Eretz Hakodesh, associated with Israel’s Haredi United Torah Judaism party, and Am Yisrael Chai, an Orthodox party targeting young voters.
Several thousand votes for these parties were cast from the same locations, using suspicious credit cards and unverifiable contact details, according to reports.
AZM executive director Herbert Block confirmed the matter is being investigated.
“We have no comment while the matter is under investigation,” said Block. “AZM is dedicated to ensuring a fair and transparent election and is vigilant in identifying and stopping any fraudulent behavior.”
Voting for the Zionist Congress is open to self-identified Jews aged 18 or older in the US, who must provide their name, address and contact details, and pay a $5 registration fee via credit card.
While the online voting platform employs sophisticated technology to prevent voter fraud, “there is also an element of an honor system needed” to ensure the integrity of the vote, Block previously told The Times of Israel.

These charges “are a huge embarrassment and a devastating blow which threatens the legitimacy of the elections,” said a letter sent to the AZM signed by six parties, representing a range of political and religious viewpoints, leaked to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “The word that best applies here is ‘shanda’ — and at a moment when the entire Jewish world (and many others) are watching us.”
A failure to respond strongly to the charges, if verified, could set a precedent that would seriously harm the credibility of the Zionist movement in North America, said a source at one of the parties.
“These accusations are very serious, and the AZM needs to deal with them as firmly as possible,” the source said. “I strongly hope this won’t be brushed under the rug.”
In addition, a complaint has been filed against Aish Ha’am, which represents the Aish Hatorah Orthodox outreach movement, for offering incentives to voters. These were allegedly done in the form of reimbursing a voter’s $5 registration fee, as well as by incentivizing party members with prizes to bring in more voters.
High stakes
Established by Theodor Herzl in 1897, members of the World Zionist Congress decide how to allocate $1 billion to Jewish causes every year and oversee Israel’s so-called National Institutions, including the World Zionist Organization, which carries out the Congress’s vision; the Jewish Agency, which plays a central role in Jewish immigration to Israel; and the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund.
The World Zionist Congress is comprised of 525 seats, with representation from three different geographic areas. Israel has 200 seats, automatically allocated according to political party representation in the Knesset. Another 152 seats represent the United States, divided according to the WZC election results. The final 173 seats are chosen by other countries, either through a public vote or, in smaller communities, by local Jewish leadership.
The current round of elections for the 39th Congress is possibly its most contentious since it was founded 128 years ago. While ultra-Orthodox constituencies have traditionally stayed out of the Congress due to its Zionist foundations, this changed in the previous election when the Haredi Eretz HaKodesh slate ran and won an astonishing 25 out of the 152 US seats. That pushed the Congress’s liberal parties, who have traditionally held the majority of seats, into the minority for the first time.

That inspired a slew of other parties to join this year’s race, including many Orthodox slates, bringing the number of parties running to 22, compared to 14 in 2020.
For these reasons, competition between the parties is fierce, with many running fancy campaigns and bringing social media influencers to support their causes.
Rabbi Dov Landau, a leading ultra-Orthodox rabbi, ordered Haredi political parties to refrain from participating in the elections in February. However, his call has generally gone unheeded.
Record turnout
Tensions surrounding the World Zionist Congress election are drawing attention to a vote that Mizrahi CEO Doron Perez has called “the best-kept secret in Diaspora Jewry.”
“This is an incredibly important process that allows Jews to have a major say in what happens in Jewish and Israeli institutions and directly affect what happens in their communities,” Perez said.

More than 123,788 votes have been cast halfway through the eight-week election period that ends May 4, AZM said this week. That’s already more votes than were cast in the entire election in 2020.
However, it’s still just a fraction of the estimated 7.5 million Jews living in the United States, and to Block, an opportunity not to be wasted.
“There are parties that want to use funding for religious pluralism, for Haredi institutions, for developing Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, for a two-state solution, and for just about every viewpoint in the Jewish world,” Block has said, using the biblical term for the West Bank. “The vote will influence decisions on everything from Israel’s post-October 7 rebuilding to Zionist education to security for Jewish institutions in the Diaspora to supporting vulnerable members of Israeli society. This is the opportunity for people to vote for what they think is important.”
Voting in the WZO election is open to Jewish adults in the US at zionistelection.org.
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