Trump administration set to allow ‘Jerusalem, Israel’ on passports
Image by Getty Images
The Trump administration is set to allow Jerusalem-born U.S. passport holders to add “Israel” to their birthplaces, Politico reported.
On Wednesday, Politico quoted an administration official who confirmed the change, which reverses decades of policy under Republican and Democratic presidents.
Jerusalem-born Americans began seeking to change to their passports almost immediately after Congress passed a law in 1995 recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but the State Department until now has not allowed the change. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Obama administration’s right to disallow the inclusion of “Israel” in a case that was decided according to precedents granting the executive branch preeminence in determining foreign policy.
Allowing Israel as a designated birthplace for those born in Jerusalem is consistent with President Donald Trump’s 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his moving of the U.S. embassy there the following year.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
