World Jewish Congress - Organization and Related Bodies

Organization and Related Bodies

The WJC is made up of five regional branches: WJC North America, the Latin American Jewish Congress, the European Jewish Congress, the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, and the WJC Israel. Besides that, Jewish communities in nearly 100 countries are directly affiliated to the World Jewish Congress. Its highest decision-making body is the Plenary Assembly, which meets every four years and elects the lay leadership (Executive Committee) of the WJC. In between plenary assemblies, meetings of the WJC Governing Board are normally held once a year. Affiliated Jewish organizations send delegates to these two WJC bodies; their number depends on the size of the Jewish communities they represent.

The last meeting of the Plenary Assembly, attended by over 400 delegates from 62 countries, was held in Jerusalem in January 2009. It also adopted new statutes, which replaced the 1975 WJC Constitution.

The WJC also maintains a Research Institute based in Jerusalem, Israel. It is involved in research and analysis of a variety of issues of importance to contemporary Jewry, and its findings are published in the form of policy dispatches.

Operating under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress in Israel, the Israel Council on Foreign Relations has since its inception in 1989 hosted heads of state, prime ministers, foreign ministers and other distinguished visitors to Israel and has issued several publications on Israeli foreign policy and international affairs, including its tri-annual foreign policy journal, the Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs.

The WJC's current policy priorities include providing support for Israel, combating anti-Semitism and the "Iranian threat", and dealing with the legacy of the Holocaust, notably with respect to property restitution, reparation and compensation for Holocaust survivors, as well as with Holocaust remembrance. One of the WJC's major programs is concerned with the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab lands. The WJC is also involved in inter-faith dialogue with Christian and Muslim groups.