Student Candidates in Zionist Election Charge Own Party with Improprieties

At least eight candidates on the Independent Students for Israel (ISI) slate in the 31st World Zionist Congress elections have protested the methods used by their own party to solicit new voters and party affiliates, the manner in which the candidates were chosen, and the use of American Zionist Youth Foundation (AZYF)/University Services Department (USD) funds for the solicitation.

The charges appeared in a letter to Ben Cohen, president of the American Zionist Federation (AZF), signed by the candidates who requested removal of their names from the slate. The AZF is administering the North American elections to the quadrennial World Zionist Congress.

During the past year, Jewish student activists created the Zionist Student Movement (ZSM) and sponsored the ISI slate in attempts to lobby the World Zionist Organization for increased funding for student programs.

The students got the required 4,500 signatures on a petition in order to appear on the ballot. At the same time, the students recruited new members of ZSM who would be eligible to vote by joining the organization and paying $5 dues.

AZF election rules require eligible voters to have signed the Jerusalem Program (a commitment to the centrality of Israel), belong to a Zionist organization with dues paid up to date, and be over age 18.

THE CHARGES

“The manner in which the party affiliates were solicited is in itself appalling,” the candidates’ letter said. “Incentives were given by AZYF to their campus representatives to have students sign the ‘Jerusalem Program’ and a portion of the form that would ‘automatically give them membership to a Zionist organization.’ The standard $5 registration fee was not paid by any of these Students for Israel affiliates and yet they too have received ballots to vote in the World Zionist elections.”

The AZYF promised campus representatives a “free trip to Israel,” according to the letter, if they signed up 500 new registered voters.

“Those delegates for the Students For Israel slate were led to believe (even if they were last on the list) that they personally would be sent to Israel as a delegate to the World Zionist Congress in December of 1987,” the letter continued.

In another complaint, several Zionist activists have claimed that the ZSM violated election rules when students who recruited members on campuses waived the $5 dues.

An AZF representative said, however, that all slates have been checked for compliance with election rules and there was no evidence of violations by the student party.

SEPARATE COMPLAINT

Joel Sweet, Kibbutz Aliyah Desk director of academic affairs, has made a separate complaint in his paper entitled “Irregularities in the USD Campaign for WZO Elections.” Sweet charges that “USD crossed beyond the boundaries of acceptable student activism by creating a political organization in an effort to influence WZO politics. Likewise, they did so in an unethical and deceitful manner.”

Specifically, Sweet objected to the use of USD resources to run the campaign including USD computer-generated mailing lists — which are limited to use for program material — and paid USD regional coordinators to garner support for the student party.

Most of the delegates on the student list are either USD staff, USD regional coordinators who are paid through the WZO’s allocation to USD, or campus representatives who are not paid by the USD but do voluntary work recruiting students for university programs in Israel.

Karen Rubinstein, AZE executive director, said the use of USD/WZO funds and resources may not be a violation of election rules. But waiving of dues would clearly be a violation, Rubinstein said. Because the students who wrote the letter to Cohen have not protested through the appropriate AZF channels to date, Rubinstein said, no investigation into the charges is under way.

Lisa Kohan, director of the USD and the first delegate on the student list, said that all 69 candidates signed a form agreeing to appear on the slate and that the new recruits all signed a paper supporting the Jerusalem program. “Every member is in good standing, as far as we know, and has paid the $5 membership fee,” she said.

There is some overlap between the USD and ZSM, Kohan said. But the student movement is “an independent constituent of the AZF,” she said.

While Kohan said the campaign money for advertisements, mailings and other election expenses came from “private sources,” she would not elaborate.

OTHER QUESTIONS

Legal and ethical questions also have been raised about the student list. Because the USD is a service department of the WZO, some Zionist activists argued it was inappropriate for the people who run USD to vie for political power, too.

“USD should be concentrating on promoting Israel and Israel programs on campuses and not spending its time and money on promoting itself,” the candidates’ letter said.

Kohan noted that the work of USD has not suffered as a result of election politicking. “We are turning people away from AZYF because there is no room on the programs. The number of people going on university programs is up 25 percent,” she said.

Nine slates are competing for the votes of some 900,000 eligible voters for the North American seats on the World Zionist Congress, which opens December 7.

Theodore Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress in 1897 in Basel, Switzerland. This year, 536 voting delegates will be chosen from 34 countries. North American representation comprises 29 percent of the delegates; Israel, 38 percent; and other diaspora countries, 33 percent.

The Congress will deliberate major Zionist issues including programs to encourage aliyah, religious pluralism, settlements, economics and social problems in Israel. The deadline to vote in the North American elections is June 30. About 225,000 voters have returned ballots to date.