The Spanish government, by establishing formal diplomatic ties with Israel last Friday, took what it and apparently most of the Spanish people consider a long overdue and honorable step, at the risk of Arab economic sanctions and possible terrorist attacks against Spanish installations and citizens abroad and at home.
Spain sought to forestall diplomatic and economic repercussions in the Arab world by informing Arab leaders of its intention to recognize Israel well in advance. Spanish diplomats stressed that this will not alter Spain’s traditional backing of the Palestinian cause.
At their meeting with Israeli diplomats at The Hague to sign the documents of mutual recognition, the Spaniards presented the Israelis with a paper calling for international recognition of Palestinian rights.
STRINGENT SECURITY PRECAUTIONS
Meanwhile, stringent security precautions have been in place since early last week at all Spanish Embassies and diplomatic missions abroad. These were especially evident at Spanish legations in Western Europe and the Middle East. Last Thursday, on the eve of recognition, hundreds of members of Spain’s anti-terrorist squad, the crack GEO, were dispatched to European and Middle East capitals.
Despite these precautions, three Spanish officials, one a security guard, were Kidnapped in Beirut Friday morning. They are being held by a Shiite Moslem militia, reportedly as hostages for release of several Lebanese gunmen sentenced to prison terms in Spain last year. It was not clear whether the kidnappings were connected with Spain’s recognition of Israel or merely coincidental.
Despite threats of terrorist attack and economic retaliation, Spanish public opinion seems nearly unanimously in favor of Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez’s initiative to recognize Israel. Virtually all of the major dailies have congratulated him for taking the step, expressing regret only that it was not taken much sooner.
SEARCHING FOR HISTORIC ROOTS
Democratic government was restored in Spain in 1974 for the first time in 35 years, following the death of Gen. Francisco Franco. The Spanish people have since been searching for their cultural and historic roots. In the course of that search, they have welcomed the very notion of Sephardism, the concept of a Spanish Jewry, removed by the expulsion 500 years ago.
Dozens of books on the role played by Sephardic Jews in Spanish history are published every month. A regular monthly television program on the State-owned network is devoted to the Jewish contribution to Spain. Popular singers are performing songs based on Sephardic themes.
The recognition of Israel is viewed by many Spanish historians as closing the breach between Spain and Jews that opened in 1492. A special service celebrating the new relationship between Spain and Israel was held at Madrid’s modern synagogue. Jewish congregants, most of them relative newcomers from North Africa, greeted each other with cheerful “Mazel Tovs.”
Members of Jewish youth organizations filled Madrid’s community center. They sang the Israeli national anthem, Hatikva.
There are believed to be about 15,000 Jews in Spain. The largest communities are in Madrid and Barcelona. At the time of the expulsion, an estimated quarter-million Jews lived in Spain, among them writers, jurists, rabbis, doctors and philosophers.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
