REALLY? US Supreme Court to Decide Who Will Determine if Jerusalem is in Israel

Teresa Neumann : Oct 6, 2014
Lea Speyer – Breaking Israel News

It all started with American parents wanting to add "Israel" to their son's passport.

(Washington, DC)—It all started when the American parents of Menachem Zivotofsky—in Jerusalem in 2002—wanted to add "Israel" to their son's passport which now simply says "born in Jerusalem." (Photo: Jerusalem/Wikipedia Commons)

Such small requests can produce B-I-G consequences, as is the case starting this week when Supreme Court justices begin deliberations to determine the outcome of the request.

According to an earlier report on Virtual Jerusalem, in 2002, President George W. Bush signed a bill declaring Israel as Jerusalemites' nationality into law, but added a signed statement condemning it as unacceptable interference in the president's powers to conduct foreign policy.

Breaking Israel News (BIN) notes that the case, Zivotofsky v. Kerry, "highlights a major dispute between the US Congress and the US president with complex Middle Eastern politics serving as a background."

That is because the high court judges will not be ruling as to whether or not the US will recognize Jerusalem as being located in the country of Israel, but whether or not the President of the United States alone has the authority to say who Jerusalem belongs to.

BIN also noted that The Obama administration maintains that the law would be viewed as a US endorsement of Israeli control over Jerusalem. The executive branch says that the Congressional law interferes with the president’s right to recognize a foreign country.