World Zionist Organization Returns to Historic London Headquarters After Legal Battle
The World Zionist Organization (WZO) has officially reopened its offices at 77 Great Russell Street in London, a historic building near the British Museum where key Zionist leaders once operated. This 300-year-old site served as the central headquarters of the Zionist movement after World War I, with figures such as Chaim Weizmann, David Ben-Gurion, Nahum Sokolow, and Ze'ev Jabotinsky working there during the formative years following the Balfour Declaration of 1917.
Dr. Weizmann began reorganizing the Zionist leadership from London in 1918, and by 1919 the location was known as The Central Zionist Office. From these offices, the WZO managed diplomatic relations with the British government, international Zionist activities, fundraising, settlement planning in Palestine, and coordination with Jewish institutions. Notably, Weizmann employed Blanche (Baffy) Dagdale, a passionate non-Jewish Zionist and niece of British Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur Balfour, who signed the historic declaration supporting a Jewish homeland.
After Israel's establishment in 1948, the WZO left the building, though the Jewish National Fund remained until 1980. The WZO then operated from London's Jewish neighborhood in Golders Green. Around two years ago, amid rising antisemitism, WZO representative Matan Bar-Noy sought to return to the original central location. However, the building's management, owned by the Duke of Bedford's real estate company, evicted the Zionist offices citing security concerns, sparking allegations of discrimination and antisemitism.
The WZO fought back with a legal battle in the London District Court, lasting a year and a half, ultimately reaching an agreement to restore the offices to their historic site. The reopening ceremony was attended by the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, who affixed a mezuzah, alongside Bar-Noy and other senior WZO officials. This return marks a symbolic restoration of the Zionist movement's historic presence in London.
