Text of Zionist Congress resolution:
Whereas religious and secular pluralism in Israel is a
subject of concern for Zionists in the Diaspora, the
Congress calls on all the political parties in Israel to
recognize the fact that:
A. In a democratic society, the expression of Judaism must
be pluralistic.
B. Secular and religious Jews, of all the streams, have
equal democratic rights to observe their faith and lifestyles
their own way.
C. An attempt by any entity to impose religion or to
prevent its observance by the other side, is anti-democratic
and is liable to undermine respect toward Judaism.
With concern and criticism in Israel and abroad regarding
the reality as it has developed since then within the Jewish
world.
With deep apprehension for the unity of the Jewish people,
the Congress calls on the leadership of the religious
streams in Israel and abroad to work in cooperation with
the Israeli government to ensure the success of the
Ne’eman Commission’s work, in its efforts to solve the
painful issues on the agenda of the Jewish people, among
them issues within the area of personal status and the
possibility of operating in Israel.
If, God forbid, this cooperation is not successful, the
Congress calls on the movement’s management and
institutions to take all the appropriate steps in order to
continue calling on the Israeli government:
1. Not to allow any change in the Law of Return, which is
one of the foundations for the identification of the Jewish
people with the State of Israel in all the Jewish
communities throughout the world.
2. To refrain from any legislative changes, or new religious
legislation, unless it is done through broad consensus and
consideration of all the sectors of the people in Israel and
abroad.
3. To maintain open and frank dialogue with all the sectors
of the Jewish people about the challenges, the
opportunities and the dangers that the Jewish people face,
and about reinforcing its spiritual strength.
The Zionist Congress condemns the recent violent and
sacrilegious acts, among them the arson burning of a
preschool, aimed at individuals and religious and
educational institutions in Israel.
The Congress calls on all involved public figures to avoid
hurtful and degrading statements, which call for the
banning of sectors of the Jewish people due to their
different interpretations of Judaism and its sources.
The Zionist movement is a pluralistic Jewish movement,
which holds of supreme importance the maintaining of the
wholeness of the Jewish people, which is being variegated
and enriched thanks to the great number of its views and
the many positions of its members.
The Zionist movement respects, both in theory and in
practicality, the inclusion of the various interpretations of
Judaism and its tradition in the spirit of pluralism in
Judaism. The Zionist movement is unique in as much as it
is the singular volunteer, democratic movement within the
Jewish people. [It is] a movement that maintains
cooperation among all sectors of the Jewish people with
equality and mutual respect.
The Zionist Congress instructs the Zionist management to
call on the Israeli government to adopt and implement the
spirit of this resolution, followed by the Congress
Resolution No. 94 namely: “Equal Rights for all Streams
in Judaism.”
The Zionist movement will continue to seek and to work
for the establishment of mutual appreciation among all the
streams and ideologies within Judaism in accordance with
these values.
If, God forbid, the efforts of the Ne’eman Commission are
not concluded successfully, the Congress calls on the
government, in accordance with the proposal made by the
Labor-Meretz faction, the New faction, The Center
[faction] and others, to refrain from passing the
Conversion law. The Congress puts on the record the
position held by Hamizrachi, Likud, Tsomet, Moledet and
others, which oppose this stance for religious and
conscientious reasons.
