White House erases "Jerusalem, Israel" from its website

From Daniel Halper at The Weekly Standard:

Quick question: According to the State Department, what nation is the city of Jerusalem in? If you answered Israel, you'd be wrong. The State Department just issued the following press release:

QUESTION: What is the State Department’s position regarding American persons born in Jerusalem who wish to have passports issued that indicate their place of birth as Israel?

ANSWER: Current U.S. Government policy is that U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem may not have “Israel” listed in their passports as their place of birth. See the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Manual 7 FAM 1300 Appendix D for further details.

Hmm. You kind of have to wonder why no one thought to inform the White House! When Vice President Biden visited Jerusalem, Israel last year, the White House helpfully provided the following caption: "Vice President Joe Biden laughs with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, Israel, March 9, 2010."

And then the author posted this a little later:

Within two hours of posting, the White House has apparently gone through its website, cleansing any reference to Jerusalem as being in Israel.

The caption now reads: "Vice President Joe Biden laughs with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, March 9, 2010."

Sure enough, according to Google's cache, at least 7 references to "Jerusalem, Israel" have been changed now to show "Jerusalem" alone.

is now:

The only remaining reference to "Jerusalem, Israel" that I can find on the White House site is in this announcement:

This is beyond outrageous.

Go to the White House website contact page and let them know.

(h/t Ron)