March 15, 2000 

To: Officers, Rabbis, Synagogue Leadership, Info Net
From: Richard B. Stone, Chairman, Betty Ehrenberg, Director, International Affairs and Communal Relations
Re: Jerusalem Birthplace Act of 1999 (H.R. 2768)

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED 

As you know from our previous communications, the OU/IPA has been supporting Congressional initiatives that would ensure that the United States take important steps towards recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Those who refuse to recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel continue to challenge Israel’s right to Jerusalem in many venues including the United Nations, the United States Congress, and in the world of commerce with the threat of boycotts. It is therefore crucial that all our members immediately contact their Congressional representatives in support of the Jerusalem Birthplace Act of 1999 (H.R. 2768) which would provide that the birthplace of a United States citizen born in the city of be recorded as Jerusalem, Israel for the purposes of registration of birth, certification of nationality, or issuance of a passport. The fact that this has 
not been done up until now suggests that the status of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is still somehow questionable.   

Some organizations, including American Arab and Muslim organizations that initiated the Disney, Ben and Jerry’s, and Benetton boycotts, are actively lobbying against the passage of this legislation. It is therefore important that you contact your representative immediately, urging him/her to support and co-sponsor H.R. 2768.   

Among the points that you may include in your letter or phone call are:

• All sovereign countries designate their own capital. Israel has as much right as any nation to choose her own capital and she is the only one being denied that right.   

• All Israeli governments have declared that Jerusalem is the eternal and indivisible capital of Israel.

• Jerusalem has historically been Israel’s capital for three millennia, since the reign of King David.   

• Jerusalem is the home of the Knesset, Israel’s governing body. The offices of Israel’s President and Prime Minister and most government ministries have always been located in Jerusalem.

• Since the liberation of Jerusalem in 1967, free access has been granted to all the holy sites of all the faiths in Jerusalem. Before 1967, Jews as well as members of other faiths were denied access to their holy places and freedom of worship in the city of Jerusalem. Unlike the Jewish experience under the rule of foreign powers in Jerusalem, in the past, Israel is obligated by law to preserve the religious and historical nature of the city and to ensure religious autonomy to all faith communities.   

• No other political or religious group in history other than Jews has established its capital in Jerusalem.   

• Despite frequent changes in rule over Jerusalem, it always has been one, undivided city except for the nineteen years of Jordanian occupation.

Jerusalem is and should remain Israel’s undivided capital. On November 8th, 1995 the Jerusalem Embassy Act was enacted into law. This law states, as a matter of United States government policy, that Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel and should remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected. There are still too many groups who are trying to delegitimize Israel by denying her ties to Jerusalem. It is most important that the United States, as Israel’s closest ally, record the birthplace of those U.S. citizens who are born in Jerusalem as Jerusalem, Israel on U.S. birth certificates, passports, and certification of nationality.

Call your Representative now at 202-225-3121 and urge them to strongly support and co-sponsor H.R. 2768, the Jerusalem Birthplace Act of 1999. When you write a letter to your representative to support the Jerusalem Birthplace Act of 1999 kindly send a copy to the IPA to let us know of your support. 

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