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Aged 8, and taking Clinton to court

August 11, 2011 11:19
Breaking US law on Israel? Hillary Clinton

By

Nathan Jeffay,

Nathan Jeffay

2 min read

An eight-year-old boy is taking on US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the American Supreme Court.

If you ask pint-sized plaintiff Menachem Zivotofsky where he was born, he gives the same answer as most Jewish Jerusalemites: Israel. But the American authorities beg to differ.

They refuse to register children born in Jerusalem as Israeli-born because the US does not recognise Israeli sovereignty over the city, considering its status to be unresolved.

For Menachem, whose parents are American-born, entitling him to US citizenship, this means that his passport records his place of birth simply as Jerusalem, with no specified country.