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An eight-member BBI delegation attended the two-day session of the Zionist General Council held  on February 18-19 in Jerusalem. 

The delegation included B’nai B’rith World Center Chairman Dr. Haim V. Katz and director Alan Schneider, David Geller (Florida), B’nai B’rith Israel President Michael Nathan, B’nai B’rith Israel deputy president Avraham Huli, Dr. Baruch Levy, Chairman of the WZO’s Comptroller’s Committee and Ofri Ben Porat. The delegation was coordinated by the World Center. 

At the plenary, WZO Chairman Avraham Duvdevani said that the WZO has hit a financial crisis due to the lack of state budget and the reclassification of the Jewish National Fund (KKL) as a public trust company. 

Until this is resolved following the elections, the WZO will struggle to maintain current programs and will not be able to executive new projects it had planned for 2015. He noted that the WZO’s goals basically remain the same since the first Zionist Congress was convened in Basel by Theodore Herzl in 1897 – 1) establishment of a state led by Zionist values; 2) in gathering of the exiles. Both these goals have been only partially fulfilled. 

A series of resolutions were adopted at the session including: encouraging Hebrew Hasbara and Jewish Zionist education; WZO action against growing antisemtism and assimilation; implementation of youth representation per the WZO constitution; establishment of a committee to review the convention between the WZO and the government of Israel. 

A B’nai B’rith proposed resolution to amend the WZO constitution so that the Comptroller’s Committee will be independent of the WZO Finance Committee and will be elected each term by the Congress also passed with near-unanimous support.