The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, stated its disappointment with the ruling by a U.S. federal court rejecting who threw out a lawsuit brought by an American couple on behalf of their son who was born in Jerusalem in 2002. The State Department has refused comply with a duly enacted law requiring the State Department to record Israel as the place of birth in passports for American citizens born in Jerusalem.
The judge dismissed the case on grounds that the State Department’s refusal to list Israel on the boy’s passport would present the court a “nonjusticiable political question” and the courts are required to turn it away. The State Department contended that making the boy’s place of birth, as “Jerusalem, Israel” would upset long-standing American policy that the sovereignty of Jerusalem is an issue to be determined in peace talks.
Nathan J. Diament, public policy director for the Union, issued the following statement:
The Orthodox Union is disappointed with the ruling by the District Court. The law requires the State Department to record Israel as the place of birth in passports for American citizens born in Jerusalem. The judge was not asked to determine the status of Jerusalem, only to require the State Department to comply with the law, which is consistent with American Policy as enacted by Congress. We hope this ruling will be reversed on appeal.
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As time continues, we will find that America and Condi will show their true strips – ‘oil interests’ not Jewish ones.
Maybe someone can explain why we should waste our energy on silly things like this. What are we trying to prove? Even if it is our duty to try to show our loyalty to Jerusalem in this way, where do we have the right to upset the country we are living in, in such a manner. The Torah teaches us not to provoke them. I only want to hear a halacicly based explanation on this. Actually what I would like to hear is a verdict from some true gedolei Yisroel that this is the way we should conduct ourselves. And even if is, should we waste our energy on these things or on more important ones? And isn’t enough that it was rejected, that we have to try to repeal it.