What is the World Zionist Organisation and Jewish Agency?
The World Zionist Organization (WZO) is the organisational wing of the Zionist movement. Together with the Jewish Agency, the WZO operated as the leadership of the Zionist movement prior to the founding of the State of Israel. Since 1948, the Jewish Agency and WZO have served as the extra-governmental arm of the State of Israel in areas in which the government of Israel as a sovereign state, cannot operate. They work to preserve and enrich Jewish life around the world, strengthening and supporting areas like Jewish and Zionist education, promoting aliyah, and rescuing Jews from distressed countries. In 1902, the Mizrachi movement was founded by Rabbi Isaac Reines as a religious faction within the WZO, allowing religious Jews to participate fully in the organized Zionist movement.
