The Supreme Court overturned a congressional law requiring the State Department to recognize Jerusalem as being in Israel on passport place of birth. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Major North American Jewish groups expressed “concern” on Monday over a Supreme Court ruling rejecting a congressional law that required the State Department to recognize Jerusalem as a part of Israel.

“We are deeply concerned by the 6-3 decision of the Supreme Court striking down a congressional law approved in 2002 that would allow American citizens born in Jerusalem to designate Israel as their country of birth,” said Stephen Greenberg, Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein.

“We do not believe that Jerusalem born American citizens having Israel on their passport would impinge on future negotiations or compromise the role of the United States,” they said, referring to the argument that the law would have jeopardized American neutrality over the sovereignty of Jerusalem, which Palestinians also claim for their capital city.

The Anti-Defamation League meanwhile “expressed disappointment” over the ruling.

“It is sad and unfortunate that Israel – as a sovereign nation – is the only country in the world whose capital comes under such scrutiny and has to defend its right to determine where its capital city exists,” said ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman.

“It’s time for the Executive Branch to face the reality: Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” he said.

B’nai B’rith International wrote that “Countries have the right to determine their own capital city, and Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.”

“The court’s ruling, however, effectively brings into question whether Jerusalem is even part of Israel. The ruling could allow for an interpretation that even West Jerusalem, whose status has never been disputed even by the United Nations, could be up for negotiation. This ruling deprives American citizens from listing their rightful birthplace on an official document,” said the international Zionist group.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Monday said in response to the ruling: “Just as Washington is the U.S. capital, London is the capital of Great Britain and Paris the capital of France, so too Jerusalem has been and always will be the capital of Israel, but even more than that the heart and soul of the Jewish people.”

By a 6-3 majority on Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that “the President has the exclusive power to grant formal recognition to a foreign sovereign,” asserting the president’s “constitutional powers” in the realm of foreign policy.

The U.S., like most other countries that maintain diplomatic ties with Israel, has its embassy in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem.