'The US Refuses to Recognize Israel's Sovereignty'

By Nitsan Keidar


Ari Zivotofsky, the father who fought for 12 years for 'Jerusalem' to be 'Israel' on US passports, speaks on the landmark ruling.


A big sense of disappointment pervades the home of Ari and Naomi Zivotofsky on Tuesday, the parents who have taken the issue of their son's citizenship to the halls of the US Supreme Court.
Zivotofsky has spent 12 years fighting for her son to be listed as a citizen of "Jerusalem, Israel" instead of merely "Jerusalem," but that fight was lost Monday, in a precedent-setting ruling by 6 Supreme Court justices. Three are Jewish.
"The trial was held for many years, and we had a real hope that it would end differently," Ari told Arutz Sheva.
"We expected the courts in the United States to be about more than politics," he fired. "Perhaps the result shows that that assumption is not correct, but we thought that the legal system is unrelated to the political system [there]."
Does he believe that the issue can be resolved in the near future?
"Yesterday morning," he stated, "I was much more optimistic, but I believe that, with G-d's help, all would be resolved, although I do not know at the moment how this will happen."
Zivotofsky did note, however, that change could be on the horizon after the 2016 US presidential elections.
"There is a long way for politicians on the one hand and Jews in the United States on the other hand to pressure the president," he said.
"A passport is just a symbol of the central problem here, which is very large, due to the United States not recognizing the sovereignty of the State of Israel in any way, including over any part of Jerusalem," he added.