Court: Americans Born in Jerusalem Cannot Label 'Israel' as Birthplace

On Tuesday, a unanimous three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that Americans born in Jerusalem cannot put “Israel” as place of birth on their birth certificates. Judge Karen Henderson wrote that the president “exclusively holds the power to determine whether to recognize a foreign sovereign,” and that the president had not recognized Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem. Congress passed a law in 2002 dictating that Americans living in Jerusalem could label their children’s birthplace “Israel,” but the State Department has refused to enforce that law for over a decade.

Over 50,000 Americans have been born in Jerusalem.

The Obama administration has consistently refused to recognize Jerusalem as Israeli territory, let alone as the capital of Israel. The Democratic National Convention platform controversially removed language regarding Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem before replacing it last-minute in a voice vote.

Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).