US passports can't say Jerusalem Israel

JPost

NEW YORK - Parents of a Jerusalem-born American boy who want "Israel" listed as their son's country of birth on his passport have been dealt another blow with the dismissal of their case by a US court of appeals.

The US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, on July 10 upheld a lower court's decision that the courts lack jurisdiction in the matter because foreign policy - including the recognition of foreign governments - belongs exclusively in the domain of the executive branch. According to the State Department, US passports for those born in Jerusalem do not list a country because doing so would interfere with and pre-judge Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

The case had been filed by an American couple living in Israel, Ari and Naomi Zivotofsky, on behalf of their son, Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky, born in 2002.

Reached by telephone during a recent trip to Ethiopia, Ari Zivotofsky told The Jerusalem Post that though his son's American passport is valid, the outcome of the case is laden with symbolism. "This is about the US recognizing the sovereignty of Israel over any [part] of Jerusalem," he said. "We like to believe the US is our strongest ally, yet something so fundamental like this, even that little bit, our strongest ally refuses to recognize, it just sends a message," he said.

The Zivotofskys have two older children who were born in the US. An attorney for the family, Nathan Lewin, said they were mulling an appeal to the US Supreme Court. "I'm appalled by the decision," he said. "The court is clearly wrong that it's a political question... It's clearly a matter of law." [...]

Obama orders Israel to stop building in Jerusalem

JPost

A senior Israeli diplomatic official on Sunday morning said that Israel would continue to build in Jerusalem, responding to a demand from the US that the government put an end to a housing project to be built in east Jerusalem.

Following a complaint by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren was summoned to a meeting at the US State Department over the week-end where he was told that the Obama administration wanted Israel to put an end to work at the site of the historic Shepherd's Hotel in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

The compound, which was acquired by American businessman Irwin Moskowitz in the 1980s, originally belonged to Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, and then served as a hotel from 1945 until the 1967 Six Day War. Most recently, the site was rented to the Jerusalem border police as a base.

Abbas reportedly told the Americans that allowing Jewish housing in the Muslim neighborhood would shift the demographic balance in east Jerusalem.

According to the diplomatic official, "Israel builds in Jerusalem and will continue to do so in the future as well. Those in charge of this are Israeli enforcement and planning officials.[...]

Rav Sternbuch's letter regarding the riots

Rav Sternbuch Protest Letter-1

Rav Sternbuch - Leaders require passion for Truth

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Arrested woman's family calls for end to violent protests

Yeshiva News reports

Moshe Friedman, who is a member of the Munchausen mother’s family has released a message calling for calm and an end to the violence. “I repeat, in the name of the rabbonim and the family, please, stop, the violence is counter-productive and hurts our case. It diverts the public’s attention”. Friedman calls for calm law-abiding protest, tefilla, and tehillim.

Mayor's chareidi advisor accused of collaboration

JPost

Long before it became a synonym for computer spy programs, a Trojan horse was a metaphor for an ingenious weapon that takes the enemy by surprise. In ancient Greece, the Trojan horse was used to bring a beautiful woman back home. But today in politics, it is not unusual to find representatives from one side giving advice to the other side.

For example, if you are a prime minister you might like to keep on hand an expert in haredi affairs in order to prevent painful errors.

The same goes for a mayor. And ours nominated a young and some say ambitious young haredi to advise him on how to handle delicate issues regarding the haredi community in the city.

Our adviser is a fine young man, known and appreciated by his haredi peers and by secular figures in the media. Until recently, a bright future was predicted for him by all. Until, that is, the Kikar Safra parking-lot issue erupted and dimmed Uri Kroizer's prospects.

Whatever the reasons were that compelled him to act the way he did - naivete or lack of deep understanding of the society he grew up in - the results, so far, are rather gloomy. Last week Kroizer (and his family) were accused of desecrating Shabbat, causing blasphemy and, perhaps the worst accusation of all, having become a collaborator with evil forces.[...]

Haaretz protests collective punishment against chareidim

Haaretz

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat presents himself as the secular leader who came to rescue Israel's capital from the control of the ultra-Orthodox and give it an open, pluralistic character. But his announcement that he is halting municipal services to the neighborhoods of Geula and Mea She'arim in response to violent rioting by some of these neighborhoods' residents constitutes collective punishment, which will merely further inflame already stormy tempers.

For several weeks now, Barkat has been facing off against the Eda Haredit - a group of sects and rabbinical courts that reject the Zionist state and boycott its institutions. In an effort to score points on the ultra-Orthodox street, the Eda Haredit launched a battle against the opening of the municipality's Safra parking garage on Shabbat and won support from the most important ultra-Orthodox rabbis and halakhic arbiters. Barkat, rightly, stood up to them: He refused to give in to the demonstrations and left the parking garage open.

The protests against the parking garage waned, and no protests developed against the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem. But then the ultra-Orthodox found a new pretext for battling the authorities: the arrest of a woman from an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood on suspicions of starving and abusing her infant son. Harshly worded posters against the police and the welfare services appeared in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, and rumors were spread that the baby had been the victim of a medical experiment and that the police had exploited the mother's visit to a welfare office to ambush and arrest her.

Haaretz
This time, the protests deteriorated into open violence, which included rioting, vandalizing municipal welfare offices, torching trash bins, damaging sanitary equipment and violent demonstrations by thousands of ultra-Orthodox residents.

Barkat responded by announcing a halt in the provision of municipal services to the two ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods where the riots took place, Mea She'arim and Geula. He justified this decision by the need to protect municipal workers from attacks, given the vandalizing of the welfare offices. But his hasty announcement was a mistake. Both neighborhoods are inhabited by tens of thousands of people, of which only a tiny minority participated in the violence. There is no reason to punish the many for the sins of the few.

One can understand Barkat's fears for the safety of municipal welfare and sanitation workers, but the solution is not collective punishment of the ultra-Orthodox community. Instead, he could have the welfare offices guarded and bar trash collection when and where demonstrations are occurring. But for the municipality to declare war on an entire community will only further inflame passions and push Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community into a "them or us" stance toward the authorities. And this is happening at a time when the violent riots over this issue, unlike the protests against the parking garage, have failed to win the backing of the rabbis - not even those of the most extremist factions. [...]