Nadene Goldfoot
Who knows where the city of Jerusalem is? I hope you said "Israel." You'd be right. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. The United States is not about to accept that fact. Truth is, it's been the capital of Israel since King David's time who lived from before 1010 BCE to 970 BCE; In fact, the city came into his hands in 1010 BCE, which was 3025 years ago, and became the capital again for the past 67 years in 1948.
The problem we have lies in that the Palestinians want Jerusalem as their capital of their future state and our president will therefore not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Politics play into this problem of having American citizens born in Jerusalem having it displayed in their American passport. Many of us have duel citizenship, and if a young couple lives in Jerusalem and their child is born there, they want to show that this was where they were born.
However, Our American president seems to have more powers than the judicial and Congress offices do not have. What had happened was that in 2002, Congress passed a law granting American citizens born in Jerusalem the right to have their passports show "Israel" as their place of birth.
Then, a 6 to 3 Supreme Court voted to invalidate it . Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia and Alito had agreed with Nathan Lewin's constitutional arguments and comprehensive summary of American history as to whether the president has the exclusive power to recognize foreign sovereigns or not. If you were born in Jerusalem, you were not to be listed as born in Israel.
"On April 21, 2014, the Supreme Court granted Lewin's certiorari petition in the follow-up case of Zivotofsky v. Kerry, which concerns the question whether a federal statute that directs the Secretary of State, on request, to record the birthplace of an American citizen born in Jerusalem as born in "Israel" on a Consular Report of Birth Abroad and on a United States passport is unconstitutional on the ground that the statute "impermissibly infringes on the President's exercise of the recognition power reposing exclusively in him." If an American mother gave birth to her child in Paris, they would have no such problem. My nephew was born in Amsterdam. No problem at all. It's on his passport. Only one person is keeping this from happening to babies born in Jerusalem. This sounds like double-talk to me.
Justice Elana Kagan, Jewish herself, during oral argument of the case, called it a "tinderbox."
The outcome is that only the president can constitutionally declare, on behalf of the US government, that Jerusalem is in Israel, even though the horrible war that Israel had to fight against all odds in 1967 freed Jerusalem's eastern section to be part of Israel which then made Jerusalem whole again since 1948. Israel didn't start that war, but Egypt and the Arab armies had formed a war pact against Israel. Jordan, Iraq and Syria concentrated their forces along the frontiers with Israel, and the Jordanian Army was under the command of the Egyptians. Israel had waited for 3 weeks from 15th of May for international action to stop this escalation and remove the threat from their frontiers, but you know no one came to their side. On the 5th of June, war broke out and Israel defied all odds and won. Israel even destroyed the armies that had massed along its frontiers and menaced its vital centers. So what does Israel get to show respect? Their "friend" state not capable of allowing Israel on someone's passport to show their birth when it's a fact, let alone Jerusalem! And the USA president has no desire to do so now.
Congress can disagree with the President in many ways over this. They have aspects of foreign policy apart from the solitary act of recognition.
What is the problem? Why is it unconstitutional to say that Jerusalem is in Israel?
The Court majority of the 9 Judges said that designating Israel in a passport as the place of birth of a citizen born in Jerusalem is unconstitutional because it would force the President himself to contradict his earlier statement. The 2002 law mandated that the Executive contradict his prior recognition determination in an official document issued by the Secretary of State. You see, the president cannot tell a foreign government in a US passport that Jerusalem is in Israel because then he is contradicting his declaration that Jerusalem is not in Israel.
Yet the president can change his mind about same sex marriages one year and this year he was gung ho for it. No problem. He evolved, but evidently he can't evolve in his knowledge about Jerusalem being Israel's capital.
There is a boy about to become 13 in October, Menachem Zivotofsky . A nice bar mitzvah gift would be if the Supreme Court would give him his USA passport declaring he was born in Israel, which he was. Do you think they could accomplish that-ever? The parents hate to give up their US citizenship.
It's been 48 years since the Six Day War of 1967. Still, the USA will not accept Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The Palestinians have not stopped attacking Israel. The USA won't even stand up for Israel with the UN today. We're not closer to having a 2 state solution. But the USA doesn't like Israel building in land designated belonging to Israel and doesn't like Israel written on American passports as a place of birth.
That brings in my remarks about standing with Israel against the UN. Ms. Psaki made remarks against Israel that differ from Israel's report and will be a potential grist for the UN Human Rights Council's report. It was only last November when General Martin Dempsey said that Israel "went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties in this type of conflict where you are held to a standard that your enemy is not held to. Israel is then the brunt of the civilian casualties anyway, no matter what they did to prevent them from happening other than throwing down their weapons and retreating back to Israel. Israel had been given the green light to defend themselves, after all. My questiion is, has the USA always done as well in their trips into the hinderlands with their soldiers? How about Viet Nam? Hmmm? To that, there is no comparison between Israel's enemy actions and the Viet Con's actions and willingness to waste their own people. A general would know more than laypeople like Obama and Psaki who ask for the impossible.
Resource: The Jewish Press, page: front page and 91 (inside back page) The Jerusalem Passpsort Case: Where do we go from here?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Lewin
http://www.jewishpress.com/author/nathanlewin/
The Jewish Press, pages 7 and 75, Israel, Gaza, and the war crimes Issue
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| Nathan Lewin, Author, Lawyer, Harvard Law School, fighting for the right to have Israel on your USA passport as place of birth |
Who knows where the city of Jerusalem is? I hope you said "Israel." You'd be right. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. The United States is not about to accept that fact. Truth is, it's been the capital of Israel since King David's time who lived from before 1010 BCE to 970 BCE; In fact, the city came into his hands in 1010 BCE, which was 3025 years ago, and became the capital again for the past 67 years in 1948.
 |
| Tower of David in Jerusalem |
 |
| Praying at the Wall in Jerusalem |
Politics play into this problem of having American citizens born in Jerusalem having it displayed in their American passport. Many of us have duel citizenship, and if a young couple lives in Jerusalem and their child is born there, they want to show that this was where they were born.
However, Our American president seems to have more powers than the judicial and Congress offices do not have. What had happened was that in 2002, Congress passed a law granting American citizens born in Jerusalem the right to have their passports show "Israel" as their place of birth.
Then, a 6 to 3 Supreme Court voted to invalidate it . Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia and Alito had agreed with Nathan Lewin's constitutional arguments and comprehensive summary of American history as to whether the president has the exclusive power to recognize foreign sovereigns or not. If you were born in Jerusalem, you were not to be listed as born in Israel.
 |
| Chief Judges of the Supreme Court |
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| IDF entering Jerusalem at Wall for first time since 1948; Awesome moment |
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| 1967 Dancing at the Wall for the first time since 1948 as Jordan had illegally taken east Jerusalem. Then Jordan lost the attack against Israel in 1967 and Israel got it back. |
Justice Elana Kagan, Jewish herself, during oral argument of the case, called it a "tinderbox."
The outcome is that only the president can constitutionally declare, on behalf of the US government, that Jerusalem is in Israel, even though the horrible war that Israel had to fight against all odds in 1967 freed Jerusalem's eastern section to be part of Israel which then made Jerusalem whole again since 1948. Israel didn't start that war, but Egypt and the Arab armies had formed a war pact against Israel. Jordan, Iraq and Syria concentrated their forces along the frontiers with Israel, and the Jordanian Army was under the command of the Egyptians. Israel had waited for 3 weeks from 15th of May for international action to stop this escalation and remove the threat from their frontiers, but you know no one came to their side. On the 5th of June, war broke out and Israel defied all odds and won. Israel even destroyed the armies that had massed along its frontiers and menaced its vital centers. So what does Israel get to show respect? Their "friend" state not capable of allowing Israel on someone's passport to show their birth when it's a fact, let alone Jerusalem! And the USA president has no desire to do so now.
Congress can disagree with the President in many ways over this. They have aspects of foreign policy apart from the solitary act of recognition.
What is the problem? Why is it unconstitutional to say that Jerusalem is in Israel?
The Court majority of the 9 Judges said that designating Israel in a passport as the place of birth of a citizen born in Jerusalem is unconstitutional because it would force the President himself to contradict his earlier statement. The 2002 law mandated that the Executive contradict his prior recognition determination in an official document issued by the Secretary of State. You see, the president cannot tell a foreign government in a US passport that Jerusalem is in Israel because then he is contradicting his declaration that Jerusalem is not in Israel.
Yet the president can change his mind about same sex marriages one year and this year he was gung ho for it. No problem. He evolved, but evidently he can't evolve in his knowledge about Jerusalem being Israel's capital.
There is a boy about to become 13 in October, Menachem Zivotofsky . A nice bar mitzvah gift would be if the Supreme Court would give him his USA passport declaring he was born in Israel, which he was. Do you think they could accomplish that-ever? The parents hate to give up their US citizenship.
It's been 48 years since the Six Day War of 1967. Still, the USA will not accept Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The Palestinians have not stopped attacking Israel. The USA won't even stand up for Israel with the UN today. We're not closer to having a 2 state solution. But the USA doesn't like Israel building in land designated belonging to Israel and doesn't like Israel written on American passports as a place of birth.
 |
| Remember the tunnels from Gaza going into Israel? |
That brings in my remarks about standing with Israel against the UN. Ms. Psaki made remarks against Israel that differ from Israel's report and will be a potential grist for the UN Human Rights Council's report. It was only last November when General Martin Dempsey said that Israel "went to extraordinary lengths to limit collateral damage and civilian casualties in this type of conflict where you are held to a standard that your enemy is not held to. Israel is then the brunt of the civilian casualties anyway, no matter what they did to prevent them from happening other than throwing down their weapons and retreating back to Israel. Israel had been given the green light to defend themselves, after all. My questiion is, has the USA always done as well in their trips into the hinderlands with their soldiers? How about Viet Nam? Hmmm? To that, there is no comparison between Israel's enemy actions and the Viet Con's actions and willingness to waste their own people. A general would know more than laypeople like Obama and Psaki who ask for the impossible.
Resource: The Jewish Press, page: front page and 91 (inside back page) The Jerusalem Passpsort Case: Where do we go from here?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Lewin
http://www.jewishpress.com/author/nathanlewin/
The Jewish Press, pages 7 and 75, Israel, Gaza, and the war crimes Issue
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