|
Why Are
There Israeli- But Not Mexican-American Dual Nationals?
by Grace
Halsell
America is the
home of many faiths and many nationalities. Recently, we have seen that a
U.S. businessman can be "called home" to serve as the prime
minister of Serbia. While the unusual appointment of Milan Panic, some 20
years after he emigrated to California to found a multimillion-dollar
pharmaceutical company, drew some media attention, the press in general
ignores the large number of Americans who vote in Israeli elections, fight
in Israeli wars and whose first allegiance belongs not to the U.S. but to
the Jewish state.
While many
immigrants who become Americans express nostalgia and, in most instances,
a love for the old country, they are not torn as to their first allegiance
or loyalty. Nor, before the creation of Israel, were many Jewish
immigrants to North America. Zionism, however, taught them that regardless
of where they were born, or where they lived, they had an allegiance to a
Jewish state.
American-born
Jonathan Jay Pollard, who perhaps stole more secrets from the U.S. than
has any other spy in American history, said he felt compelled to put the
"interests of my state" ahead of his own. Although as a U.S.
Navy counter-intelligence specialist he had a top-secret security
clearance, by "my state" he meant the state of Israel.
Literally tens
of thousands of Americans still holding U.S. passports admit they feel a
primary allegiance to the state of Israel. In many instances, these
Americans vote in Israeli elections, wear Israeli uniforms and fight in
Israeli wars. Many are actively engaged both in the confiscation of
Palestinian lands and in the Israeli political system. Three examples come
to mind:
One is Rabbi
Meir Kahane, who founded the militant Jewish Defense League in the U.S. in
the 1960s, then emigrated to Israel where, eventually, he was elected to
the Knesset. Until he was shot and killed at one of his U.S. fund-raising
rallies in 1990, the Brooklyn-born rabbi shuttled between Tel Aviv and New
York, where he recruited militant American Jews for his activities in
Israel against Palestinians.
Another Jewish
American, James Mahon from Alexandria, Virginia, reportedly was on a
secret mission to kill PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat when he was shot in 1980
by an unknown assailant. When he was shot, Mahon held an American M-16 in
his hand and a U.S. passport in his pocket.
Then there was
Alan Harry Goodman, an American Jew who left his home in Baltimore,
Maryland, flew to Israel and served in the Israeli army. Then, on April
11, 1982, armed with an Uzi submachine gun, he walked, alone, to Al-Aqsa,
Jerusalem's most holy Islamic shrine, where he opened fire, killing two
Palestinians and wounding others. Both the U.S. and Israeli governments
played down the incident, as did the media.
The examples
of Kahane, Mahon and Goodman raise the question of when a U.S. citizen
ceases to be, or should cease to be, a U.S. citizen. U.S. Law at one time
clearly stated that an American citizen owed first allegiance to the
United States. A U.S. citizen could not fight in a foreign army or hold
high office in a foreign country without risking expatriation.
The 1940
Nationality Act
Section 401
(e) of the 1940 Nationality Act provides that a U.S. citizen, whether by
birth or naturalization, "shall lose his [U.S.] nationality
by...voting in a political election in a foreign state."
This law was
tested many times. In 1958, for instance, an American citizen named Perez
voted in a Mexican election. The case went to the Supreme Court, where the
majority opinion held that Perez must lose his American nationality. The
court said Congress could provide for expatriation as a reasonable way of
preventing embarrassment to the United States in its foreign relations.
Then came the
case in 1967 of an American Jew, Beys Afroyim. As a result of his case,
U.S. Law changed drastically. Afroyim, born in Poland in 1895, emigrated
to America in 1912, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1926. In
1950, aged 55, he emigrated to Israel and became an Israeli citizen. In
1951 Afroyim voted in an Israeli Knesset election and in five political
elections that followed.
After living
in Israel for a decade, Afroyim wished to return to New York. In 1960, he
asked the U.S. Consulate in Haifa for an American passport. The Department
of State refused the application, invoking section 401 (e) of the
Nationality Act—the same ruling that had stripped the American citizen
named Perez of his U.S. citizenship.
Attorneys
acting for Afroyim took his case to a Washington, DC District Court, which
upheld the law. His attorneys appealed to the Court of Appeals. This court
also upheld the law. The attorneys for Afroyim then moved the case on to
the Supreme Court. Here, with Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas, Lyndon
Johnson's former attorney and one of the most powerful Jewish Americans,
casting the swing vote, the court voted five to four in favor of Afroyim.
The court held that the U.S. government had no right to "rob"
Afroyim of his citizenship.
Zionism taught
allegiance to a Jewish state.
The court,
reversing its previous judgment as regards the Mexican American, ruled
that Afroyim had not shown "intent" to lose citizenship by
voting in Israeli elections.
Did Golda Meir
relinquish her U.S. passport at some point in her evolution from Milwaukee
schoolteacher to prime minister of Israel? U.S. State Department officials
said they did not know.
"State
Department officials should know," former INS Commissioner Leonel
Castillo told me. "If you look at it strictly, she should have
relinquished her passport. "
Castillo added
that while Washington claims it has a "good neighbor" policy
with Mexico, the U.S. does not permit Mexicans to hold dual nationality.
"We make them become either U.S. or Mexican—you can't be
both," he said, adding: "The U.S., in its special relationship
with Israel, has become very sympathetic to allowing Israelis and
Americans to retain two nationalities and allowing U.S. citizens to hold
public office in Israel."
Asked if he
knew of any other countries with so many dual citizens, Castillo said,
"No, I don't know any. This U.S.-Israel relationship is a special
situation."
He also viewed
it as dangerous: "It is unknown to what extent the special
relationship that allows Americans to vote in Israeli elections, fight in
Israeli wars and hold Israeli public office might be carried."
Grace Halsell is a
Washington, DC-based writer and author of Journey to Jerusalem and Prophecy
and Politics.
Buy Grace
Halsell's book (s) now:
Source:
by courtesy & © 2001
Grace
Halsell & WRMEA
by the same author:
|
