Spain: Sephardic Jews are Welcome Back... Maybe

by Soeren Kern
February 12, 2014 at 5:00 am

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4168/spain-citizenship-sephardic-jews

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"Five centuries ago, the expulsion happened partly because the Iberian rulers wanted the Jews' assets. Now we see efforts to welcome back the Jews partly for the same reason." — Michael Freund

The Spanish government has approved a law that would allow descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from the country in 1492 to seek Spanish nationality without requiring them to relinquish their citizenships in other countries.
The new law—which was approved by the Spanish cabinet on February 7 and still needs to be ratified by the Spanish Parliament—amends a previous initiative, announced in 2012, that granted Spanish citizenship to Sephardic Jews who were eligible for it, but did not allow most of them to retain other citizenships.
Spanish law normally allows dual citizenship only for people from neighboring Andorra or Portugal or former colonies such as those in Latin America and elsewhere.
The reform permitting dual citizenship could result in the granting of Spanish nationality—on a case-by-case basis—to up to 3.5 million residents of countries where many Sephardic Jews eventually settled, including Israel, France, Turkey and the United States, as well as those in Latin America.
The so-called Right of Return for Sephardic Jews (Sefarad means Spain in Hebrew) was first announced in November 2012. From the beginning, however, the application process has been stalled by confusion over how to interpret certain parts of the law, as well as by countless bureaucratic snafus.
For example, Spain's initial offer was understood to apply only to those who identify themselves as Jewish. It was not understood to apply to Sephardic anousim (anousim means "coerced" in Hebrew), the descendants of Jews who were compelled by the Spanish Inquisition to convert to Roman Catholicism (they are sometimes also called crypto-Jews or Marranos, which means swine in Spanish). It was also understood that secular anousim were to seek religious training and undergo formal conversion to Judaism before being able to obtain Spanish citizenship.

A torture chamber of the Spanish Inquisition. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

But at a press conference in Madrid on February 7, Spanish Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón said applicants do not have to be Jewish, that anyone of Sephardic heritage regardless of their current religion and/or beliefs can also apply for Spanish citizenship under the new law.
The law also states that prospective applicants must prove their Sephardic background through their ancestry, surnames or language and obtain a certificate from the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain (FCJE). But the FCJE says on its website that it will not issue any certifications until the criteria and requirements of the law are more clearly understood.
Adding to the frustration, many applicants have been unable to receive accurate information or assistance from authorities in Madrid and Spanish diplomats overseas.
The end result is that since Spain first announced the citizenship initiative more than one year ago, the Justice Ministry has granted citizenship to fewer than 100 Sephardic Jews, all of whom had already filed applications under existing naturalization rules that were in effect before the new law was promulgated.
Ruiz-Gallardón said the new measure will ease the bureaucratic hoops involved in obtaining Spanish citizenship. He also said the move will "correct an historic error" and that Spain owes the Sephardic community a debt for spreading the Spanish language and culture around the world.
"The law we have passed today has a deep historic meaning: not only because it concerns events in our past for which we should not be proud, like the decree to expel the Jews in 1492, but also because it reflects the reality of Spain as an open and plural society," Gallardón said.
But the justice minister did not say when the law on dual citizenship would go up for a vote by lawmakers at the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Spanish Parliament.
Spanish political commentators have been speculating about both the motive and the timing behind the government's dual citizenship initiative.
Just one week after announcing the Right of Return for Sephardic Jews, Madrid voted in favor of upgrading the status of the Palestinian Authority at the United Nations. The vote angered the Israeli government and some Spanish analysts have speculated that Spain's citizenship measure is nothing less and nothing more than a "wink" (guiño) to appease Jerusalem.
To be sure, the Spain-Israel relationship has been strained ever since formal diplomatic relations were established in January 1986. Spain consistently ranks as one of the most anti-Semitic countries in Europe, according the FCJE and other watchdog groups that have documented a steady rise of anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish persons and property in the country.
Spanish anti-Semitism is also reflected in opinion polls, which consistently show that large numbers of Spanish people do not like Jews. For example, a poll by the Pew Research Center found that nearly half of all Spaniards have negative views of Jews; Spain was the only country in Europe where negative views of Jews outweighed positive views.
Bilateral relations reached a low point during 2004-2011, when Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero—who made no secret of his disdain for Zionism, and who took pride in his anti-Israel and anti-Jewish outbursts—was in power.
Between 2009 and 2011 alone, the Zapatero government funneled more than €15 million ($20 million) of Spanish taxpayer funds to Palestinian and Spanish NGOs that are among the leaders in ideological campaigns to delegitimize Israel via boycotts, divestment and sanctions, lawfare and other forms of demonization, according to a recent report.
Hopes that the center-right government of Mariano Rajoy—who assumed office in December 2011—would put the Madrid-Jerusalem relationship on a more even keel (here, here and here) have been dashed by a steady stream of anti-Israel rhetoric emanating from the Spanish Foreign Ministry, led by José Manuel García-Margallo.
In March 2013, García-Margallo announced plans to open a Spanish consulate in Gaza, accredited to Hamas. But he sheepishly backed down after learning that the EU classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization, and that his plan would have established Spain as the only EU country with a consulate in Gaza.
More recently, the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned the Spanish ambassador (plus those of Britain, France and Italy) to protest his "perpetual one-sided stance" vis-à-vis the Palestinians. At a press conference later that same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was "time to stop this hypocrisy" and "inject some balance and fairness to this discussion."
"The EU calls our ambassadors in because of the construction of a few houses? When did the EU call in the Palestinian ambassadors about incitement that calls for Israel's destruction?" Netanyahu said.
Others say the Rajoy government is seeking to attract Jews as a way help remedy Spain's economic problems, which rank among the most intractable in the European Union.
Just days before welcoming Sephardic Jews back to Spain, the government announced it would offer residency permits (the equivalent of a US green card) to foreigners who buy houses priced at more than 160,000 euros ($220,000) in an effort to revive a collapsed real estate market.
"The Sephardic Diaspora can be viewed as a large pool with the potential to benefit the economies of Spain and Portugal, provided that pool can be drawn to visit, settle and invest," said Michael Freund, the chairman of Shavei Israel (which means "those who return to Israel" in Hebrew), an organization that reaches out to descendants of Jews around the world to strengthen their connection with Israel and the Jewish people.
"Five centuries ago, the expulsion happened partly because the Iberian rulers wanted the Jews' assets," Freund said in an interview with the Times of Israel. "Now we see efforts to welcome back the Jews partly for the same reason."
The Spanish government has not said how many people it expects will apply for citizenship under the new law. It is estimated that there are more than three million Sephardic Jews around the world today. Most live in Israel, the United States, Belgium, France, Greece and Turkey, but there are also sizeable communities in Latin America, especially in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and Venezuela.
Spain has one of the smallest Jewish communities in the European Union. Fewer than 50,000 Jews currently live in Spain—out of a total Spanish population of 47 million—a tiny fraction of the number of Jews who lived in the country before 1492, when Jews were forced to convert to Roman Catholicism or leave the country.
The Edict of Expulsion was issued on March 31, 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain (Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon). Also known as the Alhambra Decree, the edict ordered Jews to leave the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, and their territories and possessions, by July 31 of that same year.
Up to 400,000 Jews are believed to have left Spain as a result of the decree, although the real number is in dispute due to the paucity of accurate data. The Jesuit historian Juan de Mariana (1536-1624), in his magnum opus Historiae de rebus Hispaniae (1592), a history of Spain from its earliest times, put the figure at 170,000 families or 800,000 Jews, while many modern scholars believe the true figure was more likely around 350,000.
Scholars also estimate that the number of Jews who chose to avoid expulsion by converting to Roman Catholicism ranged anywhere from 50,000 to more than 300,000. Many Jews who did not convert were executed.
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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U.S. "Chose to Stay Silent" on Muslim Persecution of Christians: November 2013

by Raymond Ibrahim
February 12, 2014 at 4:30 am

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4170/us-silent-muslim-persecution-christians

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A Christian college professor in India was finally acquitted of all blasphemy charges, although is still missing an arm -- cut off by a group of men, following accusations that some of his exams contained offensive questions about Islam's prophet Muhammad.

According to the founder of the Maspero Union, an activist movement in Egypt, targeting Christians in the context of seizing their money and their property is seen "as a religious duty."

The rise of endemic Christian persecution in the Middle East was noted in November when Roman Catholic Pope Francis declared "We will not resign ourselves to imagining a Middle East without Christians" and stressed the importance of "the universal right to lead a dignified life and freely practice one's own faith" after meeting with patriarchs from Syria, Iran, and Iraq -- all countries where Christian minorities are under attack.
Powers best placed to do something about the plight of Mideast Christians, however —namely, the U.S. administration—made it clear that they would do nothing, even when well-leveraged to do so.
In November, the wife of American Pastor Saeed Abedini, who has been imprisoned in Iran for over a year for practicing Christianity, said she and her family were devastated after learning that the Obama administration did not even try to secure the release of her husband as part of the newly signed deal on Iran's nuclear program.
"The talks over Iran's nuclear program were seen by his [Abedini's] family and those representing them as one of the most promising avenues yet for securing his release," said Fox News. "But the White House confirmed over the weekend that Abedini's status was not on the table during those talks."
"I don't think we have any more leverage," said Abedini's wife. "We now have to consider other avenues and having other countries speak out because our country, when we could have used our leverage, chose to stay silent."
The rest of November's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and country in alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity:

Islamic Attacks on Christian Places of Worship

Lebanon: An unidentified attacker firebombed the reception area of the newly built Christian cathedral of the town's patron Saint, Mar Zakhya. Despite the loud boom heard in the town's main square, there was limited damage; some building material used for the building process of the cathedral was destroyed. Although Lebanon was a Christian-majority country in the mid-20th century, today it is roughly 60% Muslim, 40% Christian.
Sudan: Police and security forces used a truck and two Land Cruisers to batter down the fence around Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church, before breaking into the church and beating and arresting the Christians present, as Muslim onlookers shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is Greater!"). The government, which has been destroying or taking over church buildings in retaliation to the secession of the mainly Christian South Sudan in July 2011, is believed to be behind the move, on the pretext that parts of the church's property actually belong to a Muslim business investor.
Syria: Nine children were killed and 27 people wounded after Islamic rebels targeted and fired mortar rounds at the St. John of Damascus Christian School and its school bus. Also, the aftermath of the rebel invasion and occupation of the city of Qamishli in the northeast near the Turkish border included, among other atrocities, such as beheadings, churches bombed, abductions and rapes, beheading Christians, and their clergy, as well as the destruction of all Christian icons in the local church and the theft of the church's most prized possession, a reportedly two-thousand year-old icon of the face of Christ.
Turkey: Historically the oldest Christian place of worship in Istanbul, the ancient monastery of San Giovanni in Studion founded in 462, currently classified as a museum, is now going to serve as a mosque. This would be the third ancient Christian building and heritage site set to be transformed into a mosque. Earlier it was announced that the ancient churches of Hagia Sophia (St. Sophia) in Trabzon and in Iznik would also be turned into mosques.

Islamic Attacks on Christian Freedom: Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytism

India: TJ Joseph, a Christian college professor, was finally acquitted of all blasphemy charges, although he is still missing an arm. Back in 2010 he had his right hand and part of his arm cut off by a group of men, following accusations that some of his exams contained offensive questions about Islam's prophet Muhammad. Although he had apologized, after he was mutilated, his college also fired him. According to one source: the most serious aspects of this episode "was the attitude of the police, who registered the complaint against him and also arrested him, and of the institution, which has suspended him from duty. Fortunately, the Mahatma Gandhi University, to which Newman College is affiliated, revoked the decision of the school authorities and has offered him his job back."
Iran: The fate of Hossein Saketi Aramsari, a Christian known as "Stephen" among his friends, remained unknown. Iran's secret police arrested him in July 2013, on suspicion that he was engaging in "evangelistic activities." According to sources, apparently to increase pressure on him, authorities transferred him from one jail to another; he has also been in solitary confinement. Then, in October, a judge of the local Revolutionary Court "officially charged him with doing evangelism." It is believed that he is currently held in the same prison where Benham Irani, another Christian "prisoner of conscience" is being held, abused, and refused medical treatment, also on the charge of proselytizing. Explaining this rise in crackdowns on evangelizing, Mohabat News said, "Conversion of youth and their families has become a major concern for the Iranian security authorities and Islamic leaders." Separately, a former Muslim and drug addict, Armin Davoodi -- who had twice attempted to commit suicide before he converted to Christianity at a rehabilitation center (at the hands of another former Muslim and formerly drug-addicted woman, who had earlier become Christian) -- was, according to those close to him, falsely convicted of selling drugs in the facility, severely beaten, and sentenced to prison, after authorities learned that he had begun to proselytize in the rehabilitation center. Police also temporarily arrested his parents at their home and confiscated his personal belongings, including the Bibles he used to take to the rehabilitation center. Relatives with strong government connections were able to get him released under many conditions, including the requirement that he state in writing that Christians had misled him into the faith and that he would never again go to a church or talk to other Muslims about the Gospel, and that if he did, he would be executed by the state. He agreed to their proposal and has since fled.
Pakistan: Blasphemy cases against Christians have reached an all-time high. Four such cases were reported in November; a number, according to activists, four times higher than the monthly average recorded over the past two years. Activists and clergy further stressed that the overwhelming majority of blasphemy accusations are being used as "instruments of revenge" against Christians, as a sure way to see them get punished for whatever real or imagined grievance the accusing Muslims might have. Separately, Younis Masih, a 35-year-old Christian who had been imprisoned and sentenced to death on blasphemy charges since 2005, was finally released after judges decreed he did not blaspheme Islam. He and his family are still in hiding, as some Muslims are still seeking to kill him despite his being cleared of the blasphemy charge. According to Masih: "I have four children and I have no job, no one is helping me. I live with the fear of being killed." In the words of his lawyer: "Christians in Pakistan fear threats, attacks, violence, discrimination and hatred. The law of blasphemy is always a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads: Their life is not safe even after their release from prison."
Somalia: A Muslim convert to Christianity living in Mogadishu was killed by Islamic gunmen accusing him of spreading the faith. Two men armed with pistols shot Abdikhani Hassan, 35, seven times as he approached his home, after he closed his pharmacy. He is survived by his wife, who is pregnant, and five children ranging in age from 3 to 12. He and his wife converted to Christianity in 2000. Before killing him, one of the assailants told a neighbor, "We have information that Hassan is spreading wrong religion to our people, and we are looking for him." According to a source, "The men who murdered Abdikhani [Hassan] are suspected to be Al Shabaab militia," the Somali wing of al-Qaeda which has vowed to "cleanse" the country of any Christian presence.
Turkey: A Christian pastor was reportedly arrested on charges of organizing human trafficking and prostitution. The Christian community of Agape (or "Brotherly Love") Church, where Orhan Picaklar, 42, is pastor, insists that he is innocent, and that "the allegations are entirely instrumental, as the Pastor was under observation for suspected 'illegal missionary activity.'" Later, the church where the Agape community meets was damaged by vandals, even though the congregation had obtained the formal status of "association" in 2005: as with other Christian communities in Turkey, the government does not grant official recognition of "church" to new communities.

Dhimmitude

Central African Republic: At least 450,000 Christians have fled their homes in the 80% Christian-majority nation since the Islamic takeover in March 2013. Then, Seleka—a coalition of local and foreign Arabic-speaking Islamic militias—seized control of the capital, Bangui, in an orgy of violence, bloodshed, and rape, against Christians. As one analyst put it, "But Seleka does not rape, loot and kill indiscriminately. Rather, Seleka attacks Christians and spares Muslims, causing traditional community trust to evaporate, and creating a sectarian tinderbox." Christians, however, who make the majority of the African nation, are fighting back, leading to an extremely volatile situation. Christian Bishop Albert Vanbuel stated, "a rebellion of religious extremism with evil intentions, characterized by profanation and planned destruction of religious buildings, especially Catholic and Protestant churches" is now in power.
Egypt: Three months after the Egyptian military liberated Delga from Muslim Brotherhood supporters and sympathizers—who were forcing Christians to pay jizya, or tribute [tax], to stay alive—they continued to terrorize Christians in other towns across Egypt. Especially throughout regions in Upper Egypt, such as Minya, extortionists using the threat of kidnap, torture and murder seized money, land and other property from Christians. One Copt was tied by his kidnappers as they repeatedly shot an automatic rifle next to his ear. According to the Morning Star News, "Besides the emotional damage he suffered, the shockwaves exiting the rifle combined with the muzzle blast shattered the Christian's eardrums and burned his face. The Copt begged his family to gather the ransom money, and eventually they paid the kidnappers some 50,000 Egyptian pounds (US$7,260). He returned to his family shattered and unable to speak of the ordeal until recently." According to the founder of the Maspero Union, an activist movement that played an important role in mobilizing the June 30 Revolution, targeting Christians in the context of seizing their money and property is seen "as a religious duty." The director of a human rights organization in Upper Egypt said, "This past month alone, we had nine cases of kidnapping in Minya, and they all paid their ransom, which was between 100,000 and 250,000 Egyptian pounds [US$14,500 to $36,300] for each case." Separately in Minya, after a Coptic boy was accused of being in a relationship with a Muslim girl, "Muslims burnt down the house of the boy's father and an adjacent house."
Nigeria: After kidnapping a teenage Christian girl named Hajja, members of the Boko Haram terrorist organization kept her as a slave, eventually putting a knife to her throat and offering her one of two choices: convert to Islam or die. "If I cried, they beat me. If I spoke, they beat me. They told me I must become a Muslim but I refused again and again… They were about to slaughter me and one of them begged me not to resist and just before I had my throat slit I relented. They put a veil on me and made me read from the Koran." According to Reuters, "She ceremonially converted to Islam, cooked for the men, carried ammunition during an attack on a police outpost and was about to be married to one of the insurgents before she managed to engineer a dramatic escape. She says she was not raped." Recounting how her captors used her to lure people into traps, the 19-year-old told Reuters, and "They took them back to a cave and tied them up. They cut their throats, one at a time. I thought my heart would burst out of my chest, because I was the bait." Among those who did the slaughtering was the Muslim wife of a leader, the only other woman in the band of jihadi terrorists. Separately, a Baptist high school principal and some teachers were beaten to a "pulp" and "state of coma" at the hands of "unknown persons," who used axes, among other weapons. The reason was that the school had earlier sent home a female student for wearing a veil, or Islamic hijab, while on school premises. Finally, over 70 Christians were killed by what were described as "Islamic extremists": Boko Haram terrorists killed 34 Christians in Borno State, while "Muslim herdsmen" slaughtered 37 Christians, injured dozens, and looted and destroyed their homes, in coordinated attacks on four Plateau State villages.
Pakistan: An entire Christian community has been forced to flee a Lyarni neighborhood known as the "slaughter house," due to the endemic killings, rapes of young girls, thefts, drug dealing, and extortions. Before surrounding Muslims began their incursions, the residential area was 90% Christian, 10% Hindu, with four churches and three temples. "It is almost empty now," said an elder of a Christian family. "We all are separated now. We won't be reunited again." "A lot of the families have left the compound since 2008, after their daughters were kidnapped and raped," said another community elder. "No one knows where they have gone." He recalled an incident when a teenage girl, who was dancing at her brother's wedding, was kidnapped. "Her parents, brother and relatives cried and appealed to the kidnappers but they didn't listen," he narrated. "She was dishonoured and was left outside the compound the next morning. That family was never seen in the city again."

About this Series

While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching pandemic proportions. "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:
1) To document that which the mainstream media often seems to fail to report.
2) To suggest that such persecution is not random but systematic.
These accounts span different ethnicities, languages, and locations.
Raymond Ibrahim is author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's New War in Christians (published by Regnery in cooperation with Gatestone Institute, April 2013).
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