After World Zionist Congress brouhaha, votes critical of government to be held online

Following an attempted filibuster by the right-wing bloc at the World Zionist Congress, voting on motions critical of Israel’s government are to take place online.

Right-wing delegations to the WZC have been pushing for voting individually on each resolution — including a motion criticizing the government’s judicial overhaul, support for LGBTQ Jews, backing the current version of the Law of Return, recognition of Reform and Conservative conversions — instead of an abbreviated process.

Opponents of the resolutions say the switch in voting method is meant to drag out the process and prevent the resolutions from passing by the end of the Congress tomorrow. They say the insistence on the switch in voting method happened after it became apparent that the draft resolutions would pass.

Following protests by hundreds of delegates in the extraordinary WJC convened this week in Jerusalem, in which more than 2,000 Jewish leaders and youth from Israel and around the world participated, the presidium of the WJC, which determines procedure, voted to hold an online vote in the coming days.

“This is a victory for the center-left-liberal bloc that will result in the passage of resolutions against the government’s policy, without concessions,” said WZO Vice Chairman Yizhar Hess in a statement. “The right tried from the very beginning to prevent there being votes at this Congress. They failed at the beginning. They failed again today.”