The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, expressed disappointment with this morning’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court striking down a law permitting U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem to have “Israel” listed as their birthplace in their U.S. passport. The ruling was 6-3 in the case of Zivotofsky v. Kerry.
The Orthodox Union actively worked to have the legislation passed by Congress and joined with other leading American Jewish organizations in filing a friend of the court brief urging the justices to uphold the law. The Court, in an opinion written by Justice Kennedy, held that the Constitution grants the president the exclusive power to recognize foreign nations, and passport contents are part of that executive power. Justice Scalia, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, dissented, saying the Constitution divides responsibility for foreign affairs between Congress and the president.
Nathan Diament, executive director for public policy of the Orthodox Union, stated:
“We are, of course, disappointed by today’s ruling by the Supreme Court. But we are more disappointed by the persistent policy of the United States government—carried out by successive presidents—to treat the capital city of Israel with less respect than that accorded to capital cities of virtually every other nation. Jerusalem is unquestionably the capital of Israel. It is where Israel’s president resides, parliament sits and supreme court convenes. Moreover, over history, Jerusalem has only ever served as a capital city for the Jewish people—as it does today. Even after this court decision, it is high time for the U.S. Administration to acknowledge the reality of Israel’s capital—Jerusalem.”
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12 Responses
The OU should busy itself with real problems rather than waste their breath on whether a passport should have printed on it Jerusalem, Israel rather than plain ‘ole Jerusalem.
It says
ולציון יאמר איש ואיש יוקלד בה “והוא” יכוננה עליון
Look up the meforshim, especially what the Baal maturing says, the bottom line is that “He” (Hashem) is the one that will do it, we don’t need the supreme court and they don’t need the zchus of recognizing it
It is instructive to us that this ruling is rendered right before the advent of the 3 weeks. The question is what will the organized Jewish community do to finally resolve this issue. As long as this administration keeps Jerusalem on the negotiating table the other side will continue to delude itself in the belief that it really is negotiable which we would hope is never and will never be. The thinking will have to be how we make that clear to the President in no uncertain terms that we take him at his prior word that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel and is not subject to negotiation;that this is OUR RED LINE but this one will not be violated. Or are we too timid to make that point?
Let’s not get all zionist here. This is a purely zionist problem, not a Jewish one.
@chachom – The two cannot be separated . . . anti-zionism is the new anti-Semitism.
Ignoring campaign rhetoric and ethnic pandering, it shows that the United States, like the rest of the world, does not truely recognize Medinat Yisrael as anything more that a de facto regime of dubious legality. It shows that the “return to 1967 borders” rhetoric is meaningless, since western Jerusalem is within the 1949-1967 boundaries. If the US doesn’t recognize Western Jerusalem, does it truely recognize any other part of Israel? And given the number of countries that decline to locate their embassies in the western (pre-1967 borders) part of Jerusalem, can it be said that anyone recognizes the “zionist entity” as a permanent sovereign state?
Was shocked to see darth bader ginzburg and rabbi elana kagan vote with majority on this one.
It seems that all three Jewish Justices (Ginsburg, Breyer and Kagan) ruled that Jerusalem is not in Israel.
“מהרסיך ומחרִביך ממך יצאו”
Anyone surprised ??
ALL 3 jewish [sic] justices voted against Israel
including lowlife wicked Kegan…who when she was nominated 5 years ago ,we heard paeans of praise of her emanating from centrist Orthodox communities
Had OU & co. ‘Expressed Disappointment’ when Kegan , Breyer or Ginsburg were being nominated,
the world would be a different [i.e. better] place today
chachom: I suggest you reread your comment. yerushalayim is a Zionist issue?
hrhine #11: What should be printed on a US Passport here is solely a zionist issue. It is essentially meaningless and unimportant.