A Canadian immigrant has lost his court battle to have his birthplace, Jerusalem, on his passport as Ottawa insists it must remain neutral on the contested holy city, AFP reports.
The Supreme Court refused Thursday to hear the appeal of Eliyahu Veffer, who immigrated to Canada about 12 years ago and wanted his Canadian passport to show he was born in “Jerusalem, Israel.”
Veffer’s passport states only his birth city with no reference to any country because Canada does not want to be seen as taking sides in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians over claims to Yerushalayim, officials said.
Veffer’s attorney argued unsuccessfully that Canada allows people to choose which state appears in their passport if a birth city is in disputed territory.
But Jerusalem is an exception to this policy.
6 Responses
FINALY THE NK HAVE A PLACE TO MOVE TO
There’s no reason to be insulted. Who cares? If you’re becoming a citizen of another country, as long as your birthplace says Jerusalem (not Al-Quds, by the way, but the “biblical” Jerusalem), everyone knows where Jerusalem is, and so the world’s recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over all or parts of it, is wholly irrelevant.
Don’t worry, with the way things are going, Jerusalem won’t be part of Isreal much longer, so not printing the country will help a not needed recorection.
Actually some of us would rather the land of birth weren’t shown!! Boys who were born in Israel but are dual citizens elsewhere and live elsewhere from a young age; such boys would rather not have Israeli citizenship due to problems with Army Service. A passport that does not show the birth land would be a boon! They could go learn in Israel without any problems.
But Jerusalem is recognized everywhere else worldwide as being in Israel.
why in the world would he have left Israel, in the first place? THIS QUESTION HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ISSUE AT LARGE.