[PhillipHer]

http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=53404

On August 5, 2011, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a petition by Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky, an American citizen born in Jerusalem who was denied his right under U.S. law to have “Israel” listed as his birthplace on his passport. In refusing to implement the law, the State Department claimed that enforcing it and listing “Israel” would infringe on the president’s foreign policy powers. The ZOA’s brief refuted that claim, showing that many departments and agencies in the Executive branch – including the Executive Office of the President – routinely refer to Jerusalem as part of Israel, without any evident impact on any presidential power, and thus listing “Israel” on a passport would have no such impact either. Recognizing the persuasive power of this aspect of the ZOA’s argument, the White House has engaged in a shameful and outrageous tactic, this week suddenly changing references to “Jerusalem, Israel” on its Web site to “Jerusalem” only, with no mention of Israel.

Among the many governmental references to “Jerusalem, Israel” described in the ZOA’s amicus brief were several photos posted on the White House Web site, which were taken on the trip that Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, made to the Middle East last year. One photo was captioned: “Vice President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Israel, March 9, 2010” (emphasis added). The caption to another photo read: “Vice President Joe Biden laughs with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, Israel, March 9, 2010” (emphasis added). The caption to a third photo said: “Vice President Joe Biden has breakfast with Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair . . . in Jerusalem, Israel, March 10, 2010” (emphasis added). Each of these photos is described as an “Official White House Photo.”

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/20...m/#more-763251

While no American government has ever recognized Israeli sovereignty over all of the city since it was reunified during the 1967 Six-Day War, only Obama has sought to exploit divisions about this issue in such a way as to weaken the Jewish state’s hold on its capital. During the past two years, Obama has personally injected himself into this issue to try and undermine Israel’s position in Jerusalem. The 2010 spat in which the administration disingenuously tried to claim Vice President Biden was insulted by another Jerusalem building project was a lever by which Obama sought to pressure the Netanyahu government into agreeing to suspend all building in the city. The prime minister rightly refused, and to Obama’s consternation, was supported by the overwhelming majority of Israelis. It is true that Har Homa, a project that began in the 1990s, has always been a point of contention between the U.S. and Israel. But the notion control of this land will ever be conceded to the Palestinians is absurd.

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/201...em-israel.html

Quick question: According to the State Department, what nation is the city of Jerusalem in? If you answered Israel, you'd be wrong. The State Department just issued the following press release: QUESTION: What is the State Department’s position regarding American persons born in Jerusalem who wish to have passports issued that indicate their place of birth as Israel?

ANSWER: Current U.S. Government policy is that U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem may not have “Israel” listed in their passports as their place of birth. See the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Manual 7 FAM 1300 Appendix D for further details.
See also

http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/201...amanation.html
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...em_588117.html

[Paul Bunyan]

I guess they didn't like this

http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/201...0-housing.html

[Raj_Copi_Jin]

More on this. Also they lied about it.

http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/201...ite-house.html
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/20...m/#more-764046

[Fegasderty]

Something is wrong with the timeline - and I think that Obama is not at fault for this. Read this Jpost article from 2009:

http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=149101

To quote:

The case was thrown out twice before, in 2004 and in 2007, by Judge Gladys Kessler. In 2006, the DC Court of Appeals overturned Kessler's 2004 ruling and sent the case back for a fact-finding mission to determine the possible consequences of including "Israel" on the passport.

In other words, whatever the U.S. passport policy is with regard to Israel/Jerusalem, it dates back AT LEAST to 2004 - long before Pres. Obama took office in 2008.