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Spain Approves Citizenship Path for Sephardic Jews
MADRID -- Seeking to redress one of the darkest chapters of Spain's history, the Spanish Parliament on Thursday approved a long-awaited law devised to open the way for citizenship for thousands of Sephardic Jews whose ancestors were expelled in 1492.

"This law says a lot about what we were in the past, what we are today and what we want to continue to be in the future -- an open, diverse and tolerant Spain," Rafael CatalĂĄ, the Spanish justice minister, told lawmakers on Thursday.

The law is set to come into force in October, and may help turn what has until now been a trickle of successful applications into a flood. But just how many Sephardic Jews will be able to get a Spanish passport is unclear.

The new law is intended to give Spanish citizenship to any person whose Sephardic origins can be certified. It also removes any obligation for applicants to renounce their current citizenship.

The Sephardic citizenship law, however, has also prompted some soul-searching about why similar rules should not be extended to the descendants of the Muslim Moors who were also expelled in the late 15th century.
Why should similar rules NOT be extended to Muslim descendants? Maybe because they took Iberia from the Iberians who fought for centuries to take it back, history quite different from the Sephardim. Among other things, national sovereignty implies choosing who belongs - and who doesn't. National sovereignty is a very un-PC idea, modern Euros must cringe at the thought they might have to carry it out on their own behalf.
According to The Times of Israel:
Another indicator of the anxiety pervading the community is the number of Turkish Jews who have jumped at the opportunity to acquire Spanish citizenship. The vast majority of Turkey’s Jews are descendants of Spanish exiles who were welcomed into the Ottoman Empire.

Earlier this year the Spanish government announced its intention of extending citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled in 1492. Shortly thereafter 5,000 Turkish Jews — roughly a third of the community — applied for dual citizenship, potentially opening the doors to life in Europe, according to a recent Financial Times report.
How many of those will pass whatever citizenship test is devised is another question, of course, but clearly there is interest, whereas for the past decade only about 100 Turkish Jews have moved to Israel each year.

Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2015-06-12
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=420279