- November 17, 2025
- 6:31 pm
- Israel
At the 39th World Zionist Congress, which opened at the end of October 2025 in Jerusalem and continues online until the end of November, the Ukrainian delegation presented a statement in support of Ukraine and against Russian aggression. The document became part of the official discussions, attracted the attention of delegates from different countries, and began collecting signatures from national Zionist federations.
The 39th World Zionist Congress was held in Jerusalem from October 28-30, 2025.
Statement in Support of Ukraine and Against Russian Aggression
Five representatives from Ukraine submitted a resolution in support of Ukraine for the delegates’ consideration. This was reported to the UJE portal by the head of the Zionist Federation of Ukraine, Gennady Beloritsky, a lawyer from Kyiv.
The text of the document is presented on the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter website (ukr) (translation – NANovosti):
“We, representatives of national Zionist federations at the 39th World Zionist Congress, strongly condemn Russian aggression against Ukraine and express our support for the Jewish community in Ukraine, which continues to suffer from constant attacks and destruction.
Systematic artillery, missile, and drone shelling of peaceful cities and towns across Ukraine leads to numerous civilian casualties, infrastructure destruction, and the deaths of innocent people. These massive attacks affect not only areas near the front line but also settlements far from it, including the capital of Ukraine — Kyiv.
Russian attacks also destroy cultural and religious sites in Ukraine, including Jewish ones. In October 2025 alone, the synagogue in Kherson was damaged for the second time in a month, and the main synagogue in Kyiv (known as the Podol Synagogue) was damaged by a drone.
In light of the above, we call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure. We support the efforts of the international community aimed at ending the war and establishing a lasting and just peace in Ukraine.”
Who Represents Ukraine: Delegation Structure and Election Features
The Ukrainian delegation was elected in the summer of 2025 through electronic voting, reported journalist Shimon Briman.
The voting result was indicative: 1676 registered participants, 1357 voted — turnout 81%. Of these, 916 votes came from Ukraine, and another 441 from Romania, Poland, Hungary, Germany, and Israel. These were Ukrainian Jews who temporarily left the country after the start of the full-scale war.
The ranking of Zionist movements represented in Ukraine by the number of votes received is as follows: Shas, Eretz HaKodesh, Mizrachi, Achdut — United for Israel, Likud, Confederation of United Zionists (CUZ), Artzenu, Meretz, Lavi.
The distribution of mandates was carried out according to the rules of the World Zionist Organization: they voted for parties, and seats were distributed among them according to the proportional system — the D’Hondt method, which takes into account not only the overall rating but also the ratio of votes within each list. Therefore, the five Ukrainian mandates were received by those movements whose indicators were the highest according to the WZO formula.
Most votes came from the cities of Kyiv, Dnipro, Odesa, Lviv, Chernivtsi, and Kharkiv.
As a result of the voting, the delegates were:
- Nahman Steinberg from Shas (votes from Uman, Dnipro, and the Chabad Hasidic movement);
- Shimon Cohen — list “Eretz HaKodesh / Holy Land” (votes from Odesa);
- Gennady Biloritsky — religious-Zionist movement “Mizrachi” (votes from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, and Budapest);
- Lev Kleiman — from the conservative movement “Merkaz Olami” (votes from Chernivtsi and Odesa);
- Nikolai Feingold — from the non-religious list “Achdut–Beiteinu”..
Three out of five mandates were received by orthodox lists. The elections were held without disputes and without legal challenges — unlike in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The ruling party in Israel, Likud, performed very passively and ineffectively in the elections in Ukraine. As a result, the party of the Prime Minister of Israel ranked only sixth among the Zionists of Ukraine and did not receive its delegate to the Congress.
Along with the delegates, Elena Zaslavskaya, the executive director of the Zionist Federation of Ukraine, also came to the congress in Jerusalem. The Zionist Federation of Ukraine was established in the late 1990s by the well-known Jewish and Ukrainian public figure and human rights activist Joseph Zisels.
Quota Issue: Ukraine Retained Its Seats, Russia Did Not
Before the elections, the World Zionist Organization considered a proposal to reduce Ukraine’s quota from five to four delegates. The argument was formal: the mass migration of Jewish families.
The Ukrainian side proved that most refugees view their stay in Europe as temporary and remain part of the Ukrainian community. As a result:
— Ukraine retained 5 seats,
— Russia’s quota was reduced from 10 to 9,
— the vacated mandate was transferred to Belarus.
This was the first redistribution directly reflecting the consequences of the war.
Who First Supported the Ukrainian Document
The first faction of the congress to sign this statement was the religious party Shas represented by its delegates: Rabbi Shlomo Elhadad (France), Rabbi Seadya Elhadad (Canada), Rabbi David Ezra Menachem (United Kingdom), Rabbi Marcus Ohana (Argentina), Josine (Brazil), Sharon Marcel Benadi (Gibraltar).
Thus, support was expressed simultaneously by representatives of communities on four continents.
All five delegates from Ukraine signed this declaration. Then other national federations began to consider the statement. The process continues until the end of November — during the online part of the Congress.
Why the Statement Aroused Interest Among Delegates
The document was important not for its scale but for the type of argumentation:
— specific dates and cities are indicated;
— real destruction of Jewish sites is described;
— strikes on territories outside the combat zone are recorded;
— direct political language is used.
Some delegates noted that the damage to two synagogues in one month is a fact that takes the discussion of the war beyond geopolitics and directly concerns Jewish communities.
What to Expect Next: Possible Consequences and Current Clarity of Sources
Currently, only one detailed source about the progress of the Ukrainian initiative and the structure of support is publicly available — the publication we relied on. No other officially confirmed materials from the World Zionist Organization or national federations have yet appeared, so the assessment of consequences can only be based on this data.
If the statement gathers a sufficient number of signatures, it will be included in the package of Congress delegation documents. This could potentially lead to:
— the emergence of the Ukrainian topic in the working and analytical materials of the World Zionist Organization,
— expansion of support programs for Jewish communities in Ukraine,
— attracting international resources to issues of security and community restoration,
— additional diplomatic communications with the governments of countries whose delegates participate in the signing,
— continued discussion of the position on Ukraine within the global Zionist movement.
The uniqueness of the Ukrainian initiative lies in its documentary basis. We have election figures, the fact of the preserved Ukrainian quota and the reduction of Russia’s quota, information about synagogue damage, voting geography, and a list of the first signatories from different countries. Based on the only available source, it can be stated that this document became one of the most structured and factually supported texts within the 2025 Congress.
The Ukrainian declaration entered the international agenda of the Congress not because of political rhetoric but due to specific recorded data that affect both the current situation and Jewish cultural heritage.
…
NANovosti Israel News Nikk.Agency
