|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Spain’s Dubious History of Jew Hatred Rears Its Ugly Head Again as President Sanchez Blasts Israel
Edited by: Fern Sidman
As the pernicious wave of contemporary anti-Semitism continues to explode across the globe, and as Israel is routinely crucified as the world’s ‘bogeman’ and as spurious assertions, half-truths and gross distortions take center stage in the propaganda fest that is foisted down our collective throats at a feverish rate, it is important to take notice of the Jew hatred that is being fomented in Spain.
Yes, folks, from the people who brought you the Spanish Inquisition of 1492 and the brutal torture of Jews that accompanied it, comes the contemporary leaders of the Spanish government who continue the shameful legacy of virulent Jew hatred. From the Inquisition, we move on to the World War II era of fascist dictator Francisco Franco who fostered a myth in Spain that Jews were attempting to destroy Spanish Christian civilization and take over the world. That mendacious claim cost the lives of countless Jews. And now we have Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain who regurgitates the same hackneyed, evil canards about Israel “oppressing” Palestinians that his country has gained a dubious reputation for. And let’s not forget the fact that earlier this year the Barcelona Maimonides Synagogue was vandalized with the anti-Semitic slogan, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free”
A week later, on Israel’s Remembrance and Independence Days, more anti-Israel graffiti was spray painted outside the entrance to Barcelona’s Chabad-Lubavitch Synagogue.
It is noteworthy to explore the history of anti-Semitism in Spain to obtain a glimpse of the path of death and destruction it has resulted in.
According to an American Jewish Committee report on the history of Spain and its relations with Jews, Muslims ousted the Visigoths from the Iberian Peninsula and the era of Islamic rule that followed from 589 and 976 CE was largely prosperous for Jews. That ended with the death of Muslim ruler Al-Hakam II, the dissolution of his caliphate, and a series of subsequent invasions by Christian states to retake the region, known as the “reconquista.”
During the reign of Henry III of Castile and Leon (1390–1406), Jews in medieval Spain often had to choose between baptism and death. In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV authorized King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to conduct the Spanish Inquisition, which persecuted Jews and others who were not Catholic, the AJC report said.
On March 31, 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella issued the Alhambra Decree, also known as the Edict of Expulsion, which gave Jews three months to leave their homeland behind or convert to Catholicism. Those who stayed, including those who converted but were suspected of practicing their faith in secret, ran the risk of being tortured and killed.
Once one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe, Spain now has 40,000 Jews out of a population of nearly 46 million.
The British historian, Sir Paul Preston, pointed out that anti-Semitism has been a common theme in Spanish history for centuries, most notably with the 1492 expulsion of the country’s Jews marking the start of the centuries-long Spanish Inquisition.
It was only after the foundation of the Second Republic in April 1931, however, that anti-Semitism began to play a key role in day-to-day politics in Spanish public life, says Preston, whose previous books include “The Spanish Civil War,” “Franco,” “Juan Carlos,” and “The Spanish Holocaust.”
Preston’s 2022 book, “War in Spain against Bolshevik Judaism” explores how, during the years of the Second Spanish Republic from 1931 to 1936, throughout the ensuing Spanish Civil War, and for many decades after it ended, a myth continued to be fostered in Spain that Jews and freemasons were attempting to destroy Spanish Christian civilization and plotting to take over the world.
“The extreme right was determined to destroy [the Second Republic] and its reformist agenda [and] to justify its efforts. The cover was used that this was a life-or-death struggle to defend Spain’s traditional values against an attack by a coordinated force of leftists and freemasons masterminded by the Jews,” Preston, a professor of international history at the London School of Economics, told The Times of Israel from his home in London.
Fast forward to 2023, and leaders of Spain are still spewing forth anti-Semitic dribble, but this time in the form of anti-Zionism.
On December 5, Al Jazeera reported that last week, as images of child victims in Gaza flooded social media, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said given “the footage we are seeing and the growing numbers of children dying, I have serious doubts Israel is complying with international humanitarian law”. Sanchez, of course, neglects to mention that the blame for dead Palestinian children in Gaza belongs squarely on the shoulders of Hamas who use their people as human shields as a propaganda ploy to malign Israel in the court of public opinion.
“What we are seeing in Gaza is not acceptable,” he added, according to the Al Jazeera report,
Sanchez’s words prompted a swift response from Israel, which reprimanded the Spanish ambassador to Jerusalem and withdrew its own diplomat from Madrid.
Sanchez heads a minority left-wing government which includes the far-left Sumar and Podemos parties, which are outspoken in their support for the Palestinians.
Al Jazeera also reported that during General Franco’s rule, fascist Spain, isolated by the West, was aligned with Arab states. Diplomatic relations with Israel only began in 1986 – 11 years after the dictator’s death.
“Though there is controversy over whether Franco was anti-Semitic or not, during the dictatorship Spain never recognized the state of Israel and cultivated good contacts with Arab countries,” said Ignacio Molina, an expert in Spanish foreign affairs at the Autonomous University of Madrid, as was reported by Al Jazeera.
“During the transition to democracy, between 1976 and 1982, centrist governments never recognized Israel. This only happened in 1986 with the Socialist government as a condition for Spain to enter into the European Union,” he added.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Rabbi Mario Stofenmacher, who represents Jewish communities in Spain, said, “The position of the Spanish government has aligned it with Hamas. It condemns the terrorism of Hamas then goes on to accept the lies from Hamas as if they are a responsible government which cares for its people.”
