An ongoing debate over whether or not to include the word “Israel” on the United States passports of Jerusalem-born U.S. citizens was reignited this week after the White House removed the word “Israel” in relation to the city of Jerusalem from its official website, reports
CNSNews.com.
The current and previous administrations have not recognized Jerusalem as being part of Israel due to its disputed status between Israelis and Palestinians.
“U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem may not have ‘Israel’ listed in their passports as their place of birth,” the State Department reiterated in a statement Tuesday.
Later that day, Weekly Standard web editor Daniel Halper posted a photo from the White House website of Vice President Joseph Biden with Israeli President Shimon Peres, with a caption that identified the location as “Jerusalem, Israel.” Halper later discovered that the word “Israel” had been removed from the caption.
“The point of posting the photo was to show that, although the State Department refuses to say that Jerusalem is in Israel, even the White House website acknowledges this elementary truth,” wrote Halper.
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