The World Zionist Organization was founded at the initiative of Theodore Herzl at the First Zionist Congress, which took place in August 1897 in Basel, Switzerland.
On October 8, even prior to the disclosure of Israel-related news by several major media outlets, the Department of Aliyah Promotion within the World Zionist Organization, under the leadership of its North American director, Eugene Lekah, organized an emergency rally in New York City.
