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Recently I had to go to the American consulate to get a social security number for my 13-year-old son. Though he was born in America, I neglected to attend to this detail before we made aliyah 12 years ago.

Earlier this summer, my husband took him to the consulate with the requisite documents (passport, birth certificate) but they were not sufficient. We had to document our son's residence in Israel. They asked us to bring his report cards from first through seventh grade.

Now, luckily I had a bunch of his report cards (you never know what you are going to need in this country's bureaucracy.) Most of them were his self-assessments. He went to a school where the kids didn't receive grades for the first 3 years. Instead they wrote their own self-evaluations.

But I didn't have report cards from each year.

I went on the Consulate's website for help. Do not go to the American Consulate website if you want to think that America is neutral in the conflict that exists here. The cultural activities that are currently being highlighted are almost exclusively for Palestinians: Ramadan cultural evenings, books donated to high schools in Beit Jala and Nablus, a musical evening video-conference from the states for Palestinians

Oh yes, a peace sailing crew for 6 Israelis and Palestinians and a peace concert

And mention of the peace process - Condoleeza Rice and the peace process, Abbas and Bush and the peace process.

Activities for Israelis: nothing

Mention of the Jewish New Year - non-existent

When I went with my son to the American consulate in Arab East Jerusalem, I felt like a prisoner waiting to be found guilty. Waiting on a line, being checked, having my phone taken, and even my toothpicks and a pack of matches spirited away.

Muhamed, the clerk was very decent: The years of the report card were written in Hebrew. He didn't understand the dates of those years, so my 13-year-old son had to translate them. We were missing a few grades but he let us by.

Relief. We will - please God - get a social security number. But I felt like an interloper, not an American citizen receiving services that are due to my son and me.

It felt like being in an Arab consulate, not an Israeli one, and certainly not an American one.

And then - as I left the consulate what did I see? WANTED: A wall full of photos of suspected terrorists -

Where is the vaunted peace process? Where is the sailing crew, the lovely musical interludes?

Hanging on the wall, the last thing you see when you leave, the shimmering mirage of peace vanishes and the stark inconvenient truth awaits.

Comments:

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1 | ana silva - tel aviv, Thursday Oct 02, 2008

Interesting! In European consulates you would have to have all your documents written in Hebrew translated and certified into the language of the country for which services you are applying. And, in the case of schooling, most probably you would need a certificate of equivalence on top! So, all in all, I consider that the author was extremely lucky that there was an Arab "cousin" - bnei dod - that was ready to bend the rules. Consulates are territory of the respective country, in this case American territory, not Israeli! and this is a universal rule for all consulates and embassies...

2 | Jerry, Florida, Thursday Oct 02, 2008

Having lost my US passport, I reached the East Jerusalem consulate at 8:00 A.M.. Of course I surrendered my cell phone, camera, etc. Big deal. By 3PM I had a new passport. Incredible. I was impressed with the professionalism of the trilingual (Hebrew, Arabic, English) guards and the courtesy of the consuls (once I finally made it to the window). While waiting I chatted with Jewish settlers from Gush Etsion, and with a Palestinian Muslim family seeking a visa. It was NOT, Mrs. Mandell, an "Arab consulate". It was a well-organized multilingual, multiethnic American consulate. Kol hakavod.

3 | AF, USA, Thursday Oct 02, 2008

I just checked the US consulate's website and guess what I found: "Shana Tova from the U.S. Consulate General". So what is Mrs. Mandell is trying to achieve by writing "Mention of the Jewish New Year - non-existent"? Is this a simple mistake or it is a deliberate negligence to over-dramatized the otherwise a normal visit to a US consulate? I am not surprised with what some of these wanna be writers would do to publish their article; however, I am very disappointed in JP for publishing such things without checking them for the facts.

4 | chava. yerushalayim, Thursday Oct 02, 2008

The eastern part of Jerusalem is NOT "East" Jerusalem. Calling it that implies that it's a separate thing. Calling it "Arab East Jerusalem" implies that it belongs to the arabs, and that Israel has, indeed, "occupied" it. Neither of these things is true. About the consulate in Jerusalem --- Many people, even those from Jerusalem, make the shlep to Tel Aviv for consular services in a more pleasant atmosphere.

5 | Ben Packer -Chapel Hill, Friday Oct 03, 2008

Everyone in the religious Jewish community knows of horror stories from the "US" consulate in Jerusalem. to say that discrimination and hostility does not exist is to ingnore thousand of annual complaints about treatment at the consulate. I would suggest that our friends silva and jerry did not experience such a rough time because they are not religious. I know that that are not religious because: 1)they are completely ignorant of the well-known situation 2)their harsh treatment of such a known righteous woman such as Sherri Mandell 3)their audacity 1 day after Rosh Hashanah

6 | kal New York, Friday Oct 03, 2008

While it seems that Jerry had a good experience,the fact remains that Mrs. Mandell is,alas correct.

7 | Lowell Blackman, Ramat Ilan, Israel, Friday Oct 03, 2008

Jerry lives in Florida and needed a passport to get back home. That he was treated differently than many Americans who live here happens to be by virtue of that very fact. Sherry raises salient and significant points, especially when she alludes to the events that turn the American Cultural Center into a promotional agent of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim culture to the exclusion of Jewish and Israeli cultural events and holidays. The question to ask is why these arms of the US State Dept exclude the majority of the people of the nation which they are supposed to serve.

8 | Joe Klien USA, Friday Oct 03, 2008

Read again all the news are about the poor Palis

9 | Seth J. Frantzman, Friday Oct 03, 2008

I had a worse experience at the American consulate in East Jerusalem. One of the guards swore at my friend and I. I complained to my congressman and CCed the consulate as well as the Tel Aviv consulate about the behavior and got the guards name. The American consulate in East Jerusalem is a disgrace. It is not 'American' in any sense of the word. It is a racist, anti-semitic, disgusting perversion of America and something every American should be ashamed of and should complain about to no end. You should complain to your congressman and to Tel Aviv. -Seth J. Frantzman

10 | Harold Reisman, Friday Oct 03, 2008

It is black letter law that a child born abroad can have the city of birth put into his/her passport at the request of the parent. If the child happened to be born in Jerusalem, the word "Jerusalem" will be imprinted but "Jerusalem, ISRAEL" will not be printed. This is a decision of the Embassy against the law of the United States. If Jerusalem is not in Israel, where is it? I believe this is now in litigation in the U.S.

11 | Barak, Saturday Oct 04, 2008

Jerusalem, and Palestine are places in the States, sometimes in a number of them. Like Alexandria, not only in Egypt. So they refuse to print "Jerusalem, Israel", but would not mind "Jerusalem, USA ", or "Palestine, USA" ? Give me a break !

12 | Scott, Saturday Oct 04, 2008

Any commemoration of Rosh Hashanah on the consulate website is clearly the result of complaints.

13 | Robbie, Israel, Saturday Oct 04, 2008

I too had terrible experiences several years ago and it was truly scary. However, the last time seemed a bit better when for the first time non-Arab clerks seen for the first time were more helpful.

14 | Chaya Gross, Sunday Oct 05, 2008

One of my greatest traumas is renewing passports for my family at the Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv. Apalling service. They have no representation in Jerusalem, east or west, so I suppose that speaks for itself. The norm is rude, condescending and french. Yes, Canada is a bilingual country but interestingly it seems that almost all the emplyees representing Canada are native french speakers. Have had passports returned by registeredand mail with the passports missing and then money stolen so I always bring in my documents in person and pick up the passports in person when they are ready.

15 | Paul FL, Sunday Oct 05, 2008

The consulate has a special status in which it 1)does not report to the Embassy in Tel Aviv and 2) Its mission is to deal with the Palestinian population in the territories occupied in 1967. At the same time, staff should be courteous to any and all persons who come to transact official business. Because of the historical "division of labor," the activities of the Consulate are directed toward the Arab population

16 | Lowell Blackman, Ramat Ilan, Israel, Sunday Oct 05, 2008

Poor Sherry. But let us be honest: the Consul General in Jerusalem really serves as the ambassador for the Palestinian state-in-waiting and that, in part, goes a long way to explaining a subtle, but perceptible air of unfriendliness towards American residents in Israel especially those from the territories. A quick look at the post-State Dept careers of a number of former consuls in Jerusalem tells the story. To wit, there is Edward Abingdon, who almost immediately became a chief lobbyist for Yasser Arafat and the PA and a harsh, mean-spirited critic of Israel.

17 | Jerry, Florida, Sunday Oct 05, 2008

Lowell: youre right. Passport-losing visitors (like me) get expedited service. Olim need on-line appointments. Ben: because I praised our consulate 1 day after Hag and disagreed (politely, not harshly), with a known righteous woman, Im therefore not religious? Amazing ad-hominem shtuyot. Rx: Logic 101. For Seth our consulate is a racist, anti-Semitic, disgusting perversion, oy vey. (4 slanderous epithets.) The only obnoxious behavior I saw was by kvetchers in line, some sporting kippot. I saw consular staff treat all equally: the bare-headed, the kippa'd, and the hijab'd.

18 | Valerie, Israel, Sunday Oct 05, 2008

Visiting the consulate in Jerusalem has always been a nightmare for me. Recently it has changed to making appointments to get your passports renewed, and is much smoother. Altho I also had to go to the social security office at the consulate recently, i looked it up on the website and there was no mention of anything Israeli, a week before Rosh Hashana...I was also surprised...the social security office doesn't need an appointment and after the thorough security check, which was unpleasant, the clerk was quite helpful... I agree w/Sherri about not feeling welcome...and hope it gets better..

Heart-Earned Wisdom: The American Consulate in East Jerusalem

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