Robert Fisk in The Independent:
In just over 100 years [between 1492 and 1609], the Christian monarchy of Spain had expelled half a million Muslims and between 200,000 and 300,000 Jews. There are now around 3.5 million Sephardic Jews in the world. Their ancient homes also still exist in Spain.
But now Spain and Portugal want to make amends, so we are told. They will give citizenship – full passports – to the descendants of families expelled from their countries. The government regards the expulsions as “a tragedy”, or – in the words of Spain’s justice minister – a “historical error”. It was, of course, an ethnic cleansing, a massive crime against humanity, but don’t let’s expect too much from our Spanish and Portuguese friends, as there are, unfortunately, a few problems. For example: Muslims need not apply.
De reden voor dit onderscheid?
[...] the real reasons for their racism is that our cousins in Madrid and Lisbon simply don’t want Muslims to come to Europe, let alone become citizens. And they can rely on the fact that very few Jews who take up their offer, many now living in America as well as Israel, will actually come to live in Spain. Muslims might well do so.
h/t Jona Lendering
