Canadian loses battle for 'Jerusalem, Israel' passport

A Canadian immigrant has lost
his court battle
to have his birthplace,
Jerusalem, recognized
as part of Israel on his passport

A Canadian immigrant has lost his court battle to have
his birthplace, Jerusalem, recognized as part of Israel on
his passport as Ottawa insists it must remain neutral on
the contested holy city.

The Supreme Court refused Thursday to hear the appeal
of Eliyahu Veffer, who immigrated to Canada about 12
years ago and wanted his Canadian passport to show
he was born in "Jerusalem, Israel."

"The decision means that Veffer has no further legal
remedy in Canada for the differential treatment he
faces under the policy," David Matas, Veffer's
attorney, said in a statement.

Veffer's passport states only his birth city with no
reference to any country because Canada does not
want to be seen as taking sides in the conflict between
Israelis and Palestinians over claims to the holy city,
officials said.

Matas argued unsuccessfully in federal court that
Canada allows people to choose which state appears in
their passport if a birth city is in disputed territory.

But Jerusalem is an exception to this policy.

Ottawa contends the status of Jerusalem, which is
important to three major religions -- Judaism, Islam
and Christianity -- has been disputed since 1948 when
the state of Israel came into existence.

The city, which dates back some 5,000 years,
holds several places of religious significance, including
the Western Wall, said to be Judaism's holiest site;
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
claimed to be built where Jesus Christ is believed to have
been crucified and buried; and the sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque
where Mohammed ascended to heaven.

Both Israelis and Palestinians claim it as
their capital or future capital.

Until the claims of sovereignty over the city are settled,
officials said, Canada would continue its current passport
policy, to avoid showing favoritism to either side and
prejudicing a peaceful political settlement. Too bad they
could not do this with all issues regarding Israel and Palestine.

Matas said these reasons "are unpersuasive."

"I feel that the government is rejecting and denying my
religious belief in the significance of Jerusalem to the
Jewish religion," Veffer wrote in a court affidavit at the
start of his legal fight in April 2006. oh there is a good one,
I'm surprised he did not call them Anti Semitic. The problem is
Canada does too much for Israel and it's a tax
burden on Canadians when The Canadian Government allows
charitable status to organizations like the Jewish National fund
that raise money where most gets returned to Israel to fund murder
& crimes against the people of Palestine.
"My religion teaches me that Jerusalem
is the capital of Israel." Your religion teaches a lot of stuff,
and if you and the rest followed it there would be peace..
if the religion was followed
more and more Jews would really speak out against
this so called state of Israel.

Mohammed Boudjenane, on behalf of the multi-faith
group Canadians for Jerusalem, countered then:
"A Canadian passport is not a billboard
to project your religion."