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| Europe |
| Spain to Ease Path to Citizenship for Descendants of Jews Expelled in 1492 |
| 2014-06-07 |
| [An Nahar] Spain's government Friday approved a draft law easing the path to citizenship for the descendants of Jews expelled in 1492. Spain already grants citizenship to proven Sephardic Jews, the descendants of the Jewish people who were expelled in 1492 in a period of Roman Catholic zeal under the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand. But the new legislation, yet to be approved by parliament, would allow all proven Sephardic Jews to gain Spanish citizenship without being obliged to give up their original nationality. Until now, Spain has only allowed dual nationality for Sephardic Jews from a handful of countries, mostly in Latin America. "The law will allow dual nationality," Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria told a news conference after a weekly cabinet meeting. Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, who presented an earlier draft of the law in February, has said Spain wants to repair a "historical mistake" with the legislation. Though estimates vary, historians believe at least 200,000 Jews lived in Spain before the expulsion. Many who refused to convert to Christianity or leave were burned at the stake. Up to 3.5 million people around the world are thought to have Sephardic -- Hebrew for "Spanish" -- Jewish ancestry. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 OOH boy, I just remembered... "My other spanish ancestors were Basques. That's not going to be a problem, is it?" |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2014-06-07 22:02 |
| #9 There's a reason they were kicked out. |
| Posted by: Secret Asian Man 2014-06-07 21:59 |
| #8 Flaiger, Jews stopped claiming Columbus in the 80s after well, you know. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2014-06-07 21:23 |
| #7 According to author Steve Berry, Columbus and his translator on board the trip to the New World were Jewish, as well as many of the crew. The one freedom afforded them was to set sail on the dangerous mission and many stayed in the islands and Latin America as merchants. Columbus is also said to have gold on Jamaica, never found. This could prove interesting with new DNA advances. |
| Posted by: Flaiger Uneamp8181 2014-06-07 13:49 |
| #6 Don't fall for it. Screw Spain. They are just going to kick you out again. Never trust them. |
| Posted by: newc 2014-06-07 13:00 |
| #5 ...that was the original plan to finance the war to expel the Moors. Then the expulsion of the people who financed it all cleared out that (Kingdom) National Debt with a few spare coins for Mr.Columbus. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-06-07 10:02 |
| #4 "Bring money" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2014-06-07 09:33 |
| #3 How generous. It's an opportunity to move to a country with an unemployment rate of 27%. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2014-06-07 08:52 |
| #2 "Bring us your money, your drive, your knowledge of how to make a successful economy..." And yes, to right a historic wrong, albeit half a millennium later. There's a Spanish village that recently voted to change their name back from something like Jews' Death Hill to Jews' Hill. And Spaniards are realizing that their family's odd traditions point to being secret Marranos -- converted to Christianity under compulsion in 1492 rather than leave, but in their hearts and actions were still Jewish until the reason for candles on Friday night and and a familial allergy to pork were forgotten. Some of them are formally converting back to the faith of their distant ancestors... though none thus far seem to be using it as a reason to emigrate to Israel. It's interesting: several of the converts in my Reform Jewish congregation claim to have discovered Jewish ancestors as well, often after going through the multi-year process. Which only goes to show that the paranoid antisemites are right: we are everywhere, even -- if all unconscious of it -- in your church and your ashram. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2014-06-07 08:26 |
| #1 The right of slow return. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-06-07 07:28 |