Major Jewish groups were set to file legal briefs this week in an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case with Jerusalem at its core, one that will test anew America’s stated goal of being an honest broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
At issue is the right of Naomi Zivotofsky to insist that the American passport she requested for her son Menachem from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv list “Israel” as his place of birth. He was born in Jerusalem in October 2002, about three weeks after President George W. Bush signed a bill directing the State Department to list “Israel” on the passports of American children born in Jerusalem if their parents requested it.
But the State Department denied the request, citing Bush’s comments at the bill signing in which he said the law “impermissibly interferes with the president’s constitutional authority to conduct the nation’s foreign affairs...”
The Weekly Standard‘s website quotes the State Department saying it doesn’t recognize people born in Jerusalem as Israeli.
"Current U.S. Government policy is that U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem may not have “Israel” listed in their passports as their place of birth. See the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Manual 7 FAM 1300 Appendix D for further details..."
Republican congressional candidate in NY CD9 running to replace Anthony Weiners's seat in a special September 13th election, expressed his dismay of US policy regarding Jerusalem:
“President Obama has found a new way to try to humiliate our Israeli allies and placate that nation’s enemies, and he needs to reverse himself immediately".
Turner added that State Department’s denial of Americans born in Jerusalem the right to stamp “Israel” as their nation of origin on their passports is a blatant insult to the State of Israel and to Israeli-Americans.
“The Obama Administration has spared no pains in finding ways large and small to ostracize the State of Israel on the world stage, Jerusalem is Israel’s beating heart, yet, through these actions, Mr. Obama’s State Department is denying that Jerusalem is even part of the Israeli nation. Symbolic slights like this, however small, are widely noticed by Israel’s enemies. They do not need any further invitations to aggression.”
