Israeli 23rd Zionist Congress bronze hollow-backed pin, 1951

Israeli 23rd Zionist Congress bronze hollow-backed pin, 1951
Israel: 23rd Zionist Congress pin, (1951); bronze; not maker-marked; size: 28.5mm; weight: 3.15g. Hollow-backed badge with safety pin on reverse, with stylized but generic emblem of the Congress - a Menorah - flanked by the Hebrew letters "Kaf" and "Gimmel" (for "23") and the legend in Hebrew around edge, "The Zionist Congress Jerusalem". The 23rd Zionist Congress was only the second one held after the Second World War, and also the first ever held in Israel, in August 1951. To commemorate the accomplishment of the Congress's original aim (the "Basel program" - the establishment of a Jewish state in Israel by political means), the Congress opened at the site of Herzl's grave in Jerusalem (his body was re-interred there in 1949). The Congress therefore focused on the new goals of the Zionist movement in light of Israel's establishment and also called upon the Israeli parliament (the "Knesset") to recognize the World Zionist Organization as the representative body of all Jews in matters related to the connection between diaspora Jewry and the Jewish State. Pins from this Congress and the next exist as both hollow-backed and solid versions: given the novelty of the Congresses being held then in Israel it may be that the hollow-backed types were more widely available, either as souvenirs to the public or for wear by Congress behind-the-scenes staffers and assistants.