Spain's Law on Citizenship for Sephardic Jews "Does Not Right a Wrong"

by Soeren Kern • June 21, 2015 at 5:00 am

The final version of the law introduces so many hurdles to obtaining Spanish citizenship that most prospective hopefuls are likely to be deterred from even initiating the application process. Indeed, the law in its current form ensures that very few of the estimated 3.5 million Sephardic Jews in the world today will ever become Spanish citizens.
Spanish authorities -- presumably fearful that the list of Sephardic surnames could provoke an avalanche of citizenship applications -- issued an urgent notice that the government has no intention of ever publishing an official list of Sephardic names.
"All these facts lead us to conclude that the government has the clear intention that the fewer the number of applicants, the better. And the economic filter ensures that only people with high purchasing power can apply. ... Considering all of these factors, we believe that this law does not right a wrong. This law is more of a symbol, a first step, but not a law that will serve to satisfy the majority of Sephardim who would like obtain Spanish nationality." — Jon Iñarritu García, a congressman from the Basque Country.

Hundreds of thousands of Jews lived in Spain prior to the Edict of Expulsion in 1492. At right, a sculpture of the medieval Spanish Jewish rabbi, physician and philosopher Moshe ben Maimon (Moses Maimonides), located in his birthplace of Cordoba, Spain.

The Spanish Parliament has approved a much-anticipated law that will allow descendants of Jews expelled from the country in 1492 to seek Spanish citizenship.

Spanish leaders have long promised that the law — which enters into force on October 1, 2015 — will "right a historic wrong" and demonstrate that more than 500 years after the Inquisition began, Jews are once again welcome in Spain.

The final version of the law, however, is so complicated and introduces so many hurdles to obtaining Spanish citizenship that most prospective hopefuls are likely to be deterred from even initiating the application process. Indeed, the law in its current form ensures that very few of the estimated 3.5 million Sephardic Jews in the world today will ever become Spanish citizens.

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Obama's "Model Partner" Thinks Israel, U.S., Biggest Threats

by Burak Bekdil • June 21, 2015 at 4:00 am

While the Turks' most real threats are their Muslim neighbors -- and the Islamists they have overtly or covertly supported in their country's "neighborhood" -- they tend to look for enemies in unlikely territories.

Model partnership? President Barack Obama hosts a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO summit in Wales, September 5, 2014.

This is how the Turkish foreign ministry's official website describes Turkey's relations with the United States:

"From a historical point of view, relations between Turkey and the United States are multidimensional and based on mutual respect and interest. As NATO allies, Turkey and the U.S., carry out their bilateral relations on the basis of universal values, including democracy, freedoms, respect for human rights, rule of law and free-market economy."

It then further beautifies the "model partnership" which U.S. President Barack Obama once portrayed:

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