Forget East Jerusalem. Forget a unified Jerusalem. Forget an Arab Jerusalem. The Supreme Court ruled against a Jewish Jerusalem.
It is absolutely critical to understand what this week’s Supreme Court decision on Jerusalem and Israel was not about.
The court ruled that a baby born to American citizens in an Israeli hospital in Jerusalem may not list Israel as his country of birth on his American passport.
This was not about whether Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
This was not about whether the US should move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
This was not about whether East Jerusalem is part of Israel or part of the Palestinian Authority; and not about whether East Jerusalem is, or should be, the capital of a Palestinian state.
This is what the decision was about: sovereignty over Jewish, West Jerusalem.
The decision determined whether Israel has sovereignty over Jewish Jerusalem. On that, the Supreme Court in effect said: No! A child born in Jewish, West Jerusalem — in Hadassah Hospital, for example — is not born in Israel!
Jerusalem — West Jerusalem, Jewish Jerusalem — is not part of Israel. That is what the Supreme Court ruled. Rather, Jewish, West Jerusalem is up for diplomatic grabs. It is subject to negotiation. Its status is unsettled.
Not only East Jerusalem, not only predominantly Arab Jerusalem, not only unified Jerusalem —not only these need to be negotiated. Rather, Jewish Jerusalem also needs to be negotiated. Shame on the Supreme Court of the United States for this anti-common sense, anti-factual, anti-Israel determination of American foreign policy — all in the name of leaving foreign policy up to the president of the US. Shame on the Bush and Obama administrations for defending this position before the Supreme Court.
After 67 years of independence, Israel has not come as far as some might think. After 67 years of Israeli independence, one would think that Israel’s right to Jewish, West Jerusalem is not an issue. One would be wrong. A “two-state” solution, according to the Supreme Court and the Bush and Obama administrations, would include the need to negotiate whether Jewish, West Jerusalem — whether Hadassah Hospital, for example — should belong to Israel.
Should the Knesset belong to Israel?
Should the Israel Museum belong to Israel?
Should The Hebrew University of Jerusalem belong to Israel?
Should the Mir Yeshiva belong to Israel?
Should the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Rehavia, Talbieh and Geulah belong to Israel?
Should the King David Hotel belong to Israel?
Should the Mount Scopus campus of Hadassah Hospital belong to Israel?
Each and every one of these is, or is on, land that was part of the Jewish community in Palestine before 1947, yet, according to the Supreme Court, Israel has no sovereignty over them.
In this critical respect, nothing has changed since the Arab countries, and the Palestinian Arabs, rejected the United Nations partition plan in 1947. That plan called for a neutral, international Jerusalem. Never mind that some ninety percent of what now constitutes Jewish, West Jerusalem did not even exist in 1947. It does not, according to the Supreme Court, belong to Israel, and it makes no difference whether any of the current reality of Jewish Jerusalem is “beyond the Green Line” (the June 4, 1967 border) or not.
The court ruled that the recognition of Jewish Jerusalem must remain with the president of the United States. And he, like his predecessor, has decided: “Israel” may not be listed on the passport of any American citizen born in Jewish, West Jerusalem, Israel.
Just exactly what did Presidents Bush and Obama think they were visiting when they went to West, Jewish Jerusalem? They have now successfully argued before the US Supreme Court that they were not visiting Israel.
This case was not about a technicality, about whether one baby born in Israel may list “Israel” on his passport. This case was about Jewish sovereignty over Jewish, West Jerusalem. This is certainly a matter to be brought up whenever people talk about the acceptance of “Israel’s right to exist.” Ask them whether they include Jewish Jerusalem.
Copyright © 2015 by the Intermountain Jewish News
