Congress to Trump Admin: Recognize Jerusalem as Being Part of Israel

A delegation of more than 50 members of Congress is calling on the Trump administration to reverse a longstanding policy that prohibits Americans born in Jerusalem from listing Israel as their birthplace on official documents, according to a letter sent to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Congress has been working for more than 15 years to reverse the policy, which former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama followed, citing the possibility that a recognition of Jerusalem as being part of Israel would interfere with the United States’s ability to be an honest broker in the Middle East peace process.

With Trump just crossing his first 100 days in office, Congress is calling on him to reverse the contested policy, which was challenged in the Supreme Court in 2015 by an American family whose child was born in Jerusalem. At that time, the Obama State Department refused to comply with their request to list “Jerusalem, Israel” as the child’s birthplace.

 

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