A bipartisan slate of 58 members of Congress signed a friend-of-the-court brief in a case involving a 9-year-old boy who was born in Jerusalem, but whose request to have Israel listed on his passport as his place of birth was denied.
Menachem Zivotofsky was born in western Jerusalem. Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush would not allow Israel to be listed as the child’s place of birth, despite a 2002 federal statute that permits Americans born in Jerusalem to list “Israel” as their birthplace. Instead, the youngster’s passport lists his birthplace as “Jerusalem.”
Both his parents are U.S. citizens. They made aliyah in 2000.
Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-San Fernando Valley), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the committee chairwoman, spearheaded the amicus brief that will be submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The case is expected to be argued in November or December.
The youngster was born shortly after legislation allowed the State Department to use Israel as the place of birth for those born in Jerusalem. Bush and Obama both claimed that the law infringes upon a president’s authority to make foreign policy.
Similar amicus briefs have been submitted by the Anti-Defamation League, the Zionist Organization of America and the American Association of Jewish Lawyers. — jta