General Zionists

General Zionists ציונים כלליים
Leader	Meir Dizengoff, Israel Rokach, Peretz Bernstein, Yosef Sapir Shoshana Parsitz
Founder	Yehoshua Sofersky
Founded	1922
Dissolved	8 May 1961
Merged into	Liberal Party
Headquarters	Tel Aviv, Israel
Newspaper	HaBoker
Ideology	Liberalism Centrism Zionism
Political position	Centre-right
Most MKs	23 (1951)
Election symbol
צ
Politics of Israel Political parties Elections

The General Zionists (Hebrew: הַצִיּוֹנִים הַכְּלָלִיים‎, translit. HaTzionim HaKlaliym) were a centre-right Zionist movement and a political party in Israel. The General Zionists supported the leadership of Chaim Weizmann and their views were largely colored by central European culture. Their political arm is an ancestor of the modern-day Likud.

General Zionism initially referred to the beliefs of the majority of members of the Zionist Organization [ZO] who had not joined a specific faction or party and belonged to their countrywide Zionist organizations only.

In 1922, various non-aligned groups and individuals established the Organization of General Zionists as a non-ideological party within the Zionist Organization (later the World Zionist Organization) at a time when the Zionist movement was becoming polarized between Labour Zionists and Revisionist Zionism. Eventually the General Zionists became identified with European liberal and middle class beliefs in private property and capitalism.

In 1929, the General Zionists established a world organization, holding their first conference in 1931. At this conference, rifts opened up between the conservative right wing and those who held more moderate views. They were divided over social issues, economics and labour issues (e.g. the Histadrut). The "General Zionists A" favored the economic policies of Labour Zionism and were supportive of Chaim Weizmann's compromising approach to relations with the British. The "General Zionists B" were skeptical of socialism and more outspoken against British policy in Palestine.

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