Thursday, December 14, 2017

Opuscula

Who runs government?
President & congress
Or State Department?

IF YOU FOLLOW NEWS SITES on the WWW, especially those with an Israel connection, or if you are a student of history, you know when it comes to Israel, the State Department rules.

It overrides the president. It ignores the congress. It overrides the Department secretary.

Several recent articles from U.S. and Israeli media prove the point.

    • Despite Trump's declaration, State Dept. not recognizing Jerusalem (Arutz 7)
    • U.S. Still Won’t List Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital on Official Docs, Passports, Maps (Washington Free Beacon)
    • Report: U.S. Won't Recognize Jerusalem as Israel's Capital on Official Doc (Newsmax)
    • State Department Continues to Not Recognize Jerusalem As Capital of Israel On Government Documents (Jewish Journal)
    • Report: The State Department still won’t recognize Jerusalem as a place that exists (The Blaze)
    • US passports won't reflect Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital (Washington Examiner)

According to Arutz Sheva, reports that

    A day after the announcement, the US State Department downplayed the move, adding that it had not altered its policy regarding government documents provided to US citizens born in Jerusalem. For decades, the US has listed the place of birth of individuals born in Jerusalem simply as “Jerusalem”, with no country listed.

    “At this time, there are no changes to our current practices regarding place of birth on Consular Reports of Birth Abroad and U.S. Passports,” the State Department told The Associated Press last week.

    “With respect to maps, we are, of course, examining that issue, and when we have a decision we will announce it with respect to how we will treat Jerusalem for official USG-produced mapping purposes.”

This DESPITE the fact that the US Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Zivotofsky v. Kerry, the State Department is obliged to adhere to the president’s decisions vis-à-vis recognition.

“The Secretary [of State] will not list a sovereign that contradicts the President’s recognition policy in a passport,” the 5-4 ruling determined. “The power to recognize foreign states resides in the President alone.”

The Newsmax article plainly states that

    Even though President Donald Trump announced earlier this week the U.S. would formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, State Department officials state "Jerusalem, Israel" would not be listed as a place that exists on official documents, the Washington Free Beacon reported Friday.

    What that means is that, though Trump's announcement has been formally codified into U.S. policy, "Jerusalem, Israel" will not appear on passports, maps and other official documents. It also means that Americans born in Jerusalem can't list Israel as their birth nation, as it is still not recognized as being located in Israel.

    The State Department stance on the issue has raised outrage among some lawmakers who view it as a way to undermine Trump's declaration.

    "The president is the commander-in-chief and America's sole organ when it comes to conducting foreign policy," said Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "Article II of the Constitution does not vest this authority in bureaucrats in the State Department."

    The statement was issued despite claims by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that the department would “immediately begin” implementing President Trump’s decision, including the relocation of the US embassy.

Obviously neither the president nor secretary of state have any control of the striped pants set in Foggy Bottom (Washington D.C.)

According to The Washington Post, in 1995,

    Ten days before he was assassinated in Tel Aviv, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin gave a speech in Washington about the city of Jerusalem.

    “Jerusalem is the heart of the Jewish people and a deep source of our pride,” Rabin said at an event recognizing the 3,000th year of the city’s existence.

    “We differ in our opinions, left and right,” he said as the speech concluded. “We disagree on the means and the objective. In Israel, we all agree on one issue: the wholeness of Jerusalem, the continuation of its existence as capital of the State of Israel. There are no two Jerusalems. There is only one Jerusalem. For us, Jerusalem is not subject to compromise, and there is no peace without Jerusalem.”

    he evening before his speech, the Congress of the United States passed a law echoing Rabin’s assertions about the city. Spurred by the desire to act before Rabin’s visit, the House and Senate passed a bill called the “Jerusalem Embassy Act,” which formally recognized the city as the country’s capital and called for the U.S. Embassy in Israel to be moved there from Tel Aviv by 1999. Support for the bill was overwhelming. It passed the Senate by a 93 to 5 vote, with four Republicans and one Democrat voting no. It passed the House 374 to 37, with 153 Democrats joining most of the new Republican majority that had swept into power in 1994.

The Times of Israel reports that

    Three Republican US senators have introduced legislation that would commit the United States to moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move US presidents have opposed for decades but which President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly signaled he is willing to do.

    Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R), Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) and Nevada Sen. Dean Heller (R) proposed the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act on Tuesday, the first day the new Congress convened on Capitol Hill as Republicans prepare to control the White House, Senate and House of Representatives for the first time since 2007.

Given all of the above, it’s obvious that the real power in U.S. politics resides in the State Department. It has from pre-statehood days pandered to the Muslims and, despite executive orders and congressional actions old and new, it refuses to

    • Do as instructed by the president and congress
    • Ignores its own department head.

For the State Department, when it comes to Israel, Solomon was right: There is nothing new under the sun.


Arutz 7: http://tinyurl.com/yb2on3go
Washington Free Beacon: http://tinyurl.com/y8gn2doh
Newsmax: http://tinyurl.com/ydbxygxu
• Jewish Journal: http://tinyurl.com/ybpj9zsp
• The Blaze: http://tinyurl.com/ya68u683
• Washington Examiner: http://tinyurl.com/y9wm623t

Washington Post:: http://tinyurl.com/y8yop4va

Times of Israel: http://tinyurl.com/y7alzyxe

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Who runs U.S.?


No comments: