The Spanish government is inching closer to providing an expedited path to citizenship for Sephardic Jews. The initiative, first proposed in November 2012, is expected to clear a major hurdle today, as the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported it would pass the lower house of the Spanish parliament. It must still be passed by the…
The government of Portugal published its procedure for handling applications for citizenship based on the country’s law of return for descendants of Sephardic Jews. The new procedure, effective as of Sunday, is based on legislation passed in 2013 entitling the descendants of Sephardic Jews to the Portuguese nationality deprived of them due to religious and…
A representative of Spanish-speaking Jews urged Spain to follow Portugal’s lead and adopt a law of return for descendants of Sephardim. “While Portugal passed its law, in Spain it is stuck and is being watered down as we speak,” Leon Amiras, president of the Israel-based OLEI group representing Israelis from Latin America and Iberia, on…
Spanish prosecutors are investigating the actions of an imam from a town near Madrid who called for the destruction of Jews. Salahuddin al Mussaoui of Azuqueca de Henares made the statement in a video that appeared Aug. 25 on the YouTube channel of the Islamic Cultural Center of Azuqueca de Henares, but authorities only now…
Spanish-speaking Israelis complained that Spain’s legislation for the naturalization of Sephardic Jews has been rendered symbolic because of changes to a bill that would formalize the procedure. The changes to the government-supported draft bill were introduced last month during deliberations at a congressional committee ahead of a vote by the Spanish Congress scheduled for Dec….
(JTA) — While setting up a synagogue at the American naval base where she volunteers, Ahuvah (Amanda) Gipson made something of a bitter-sweet discovery. Rifling through a storage area at the sprawling American-Spanish military complex Naval Station Rota in 2012, Gipson, a former naval outreach professional who now teaches off base, found three dusty Torah…
A public university in Madrid dismantled an exhibition that attributed false quotes about killing Palestinian children to Ariel Sharon. The exposition in the economics department of the Autonomous University of Madrid was dismantled last week after the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain, or FCJE, complained to the university’s administration that it was “incompatible with…
The Netherlands will not recognize Palestinian statehood right now because it would not help restart peace talks with Israel, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said. Koenders, who replaced fellow Labor politician Frans Timmermans last month, rejected the possibility of recognizing a Palestinian state in the near future during a debate in parliament. “We believe this…
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