Biltmore Conference

The Biltmore Conference, also known by its resolution as the Biltmore Program, was a fundamental departure from traditional Zionist policy with its demand "that Palestine be established as a Jewish Commonwealth." The meeting was held in New York City at the prestigious Biltmore Hotel from May 6 to May 11, 1942 with 600 delegates and Zionist leaders from 18 countries attending.

Prior to Biltmore, official Zionism steadfastly refused to formulate the ultimate aim of the movement preferring instead to concentrate on the practical task of building the Jewish National Home. The Biltmore Program became the official Zionist stand on the ultimate aim of the movement. The major shift at Biltmore was prompted by intense common opposition to the British White Paper of 1939, which interpreted the terms of the Mandate in a way that would freeze "the Jewish community to a permanent minority status," and the then-current war negative situation. It was also prompted by the realization that America would play a larger part in fulfillment of Zionist designs after the war.

Official Zionism’s firm, unequivocal stand did not please every one, however. The pro-British Chaim Weizmann had bristled at them and bi-nationalists such as Henrietta Szold and Judah L. Magnes rejected them and broke off to establish their own party, Ichud (Unification), that advocated an Arab – Jewish Federation. Opposition to the Biltmore Program also lead to the founding of the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism

Various Zionist and non-Zionist Jewish organizations were represented in the American Emergency Committee of Zionist Affairs, which called an "Extraordinary Zionist Conference" as a substitute for the full (22nd) Zionist Congress which had been cancelled due to World War II. Attendees included Chaim Weizmann, as President of the World Zionist Organization, David Ben-Gurion as Chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, and Nahum Goldmann as a member of the Executive of the Zionist Organization of America. The four main organisations of American Jewry represented were: the Zionist Organization of America, Hadassah, Mizrahi, and Poale Zion. Among the American organizers was Reform Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver.