An American Zionist Movement tribunal upheld a ruling that the Reform Judaism movement did not mislead the public or violate rules of the World Zionist Congress election by stating that those who self-identify as Jews could vote.
The case was brought by the Eretz Hakodesh slate, which purports to represent the more Zionist wing of Haredim, and joined by the Zionist Organization of America. The U.S. Area Election Committee co-chairs denied the claims made, and last week, the AZM tribunal agreed by a 10-1 decision. Tribunal members nominated by Eretz Hakodesh and ZOA voted against those plaintiffs.
The Association of Reform Zionists of America, known as ARZA, leads the Vote Reform slate, together with the Union for Reform Judaism.
The complainants had alleged that ARZA had “purposefully and fraudulently [misled] the voting public into believing that one could vote in the WZO elections if one merely ‘self-identifies’ as Jewish,” according to the decision of the tribunal, viewed by JNS.
The WZC election rules state that one must be Jewish based on the Israeli Law of Return, which requires that one have at least one Jewish grandparent and that one must not subscribe to another religion.
Eretz Hakodesh leader Rabbi Pesach Lerner told JNS, “You know as well as I do what ‘self-identify’ means in America today,” indicating that many now assume an identity that is convenient culturally or politically.
The Area Election Committee chairs had ruled in mid-April that regardless of “the terminology used by some ARZA promoters to encourage people to register and vote, the ultimate responsibility falls on the voter himself or herself, who must certify on the registration portal, that they are Jewish and don’t subscribe to another religion, irrespective of how they ‘identify.’”
While ARZA made the case that the establishment of a voter’s Jewishness for election purposes is done through a self-certification that election rules are being followed, rather than how the voter identifies, Eretz Hakodesh countered that “any such certification would be tainted by the misleading statements regarding “self-identification,” according to the tribunal’s ruling.
ARZA noted in its defense materials that ZOA has used “self-identification” language in its voting guidelines in previous elections and that the AZM, which administers the American portion of the election, requires its own membership applicants to, in part, “self-identify as Jewish.”
An ARZA representative told JNS that the group “supports the WZO law of return definition for qualification to participate in the elections and has stated this on the record.”
