Insight Into Spain

I sent a good friend, born in Majorca and who knows Spain well, this article on Spain's 'Jewish Problem'.

The article asserts:

But now, more than 500 years later, Spanish anti-Semitism is on the rise once again. According to a recent study published by the Pew Research Center, nearly half of all Spaniards have negative views of Jews, a statistic that marks Spain as one of the most anti-Semitic countries in Europe. According to Pew, 46 percent of Spaniards hold negative opinions of Jews, up more than double from the 21 percent of Spaniards with such views in 2005.

Spain is also the only country in Europe where negative views of Jews outweigh positive views; only 37 percent of Spaniards think favorably about Jews. By comparison, 36 percent of Poles have negative views of Jews while 50 percent have positive views; in Germany, 25 percent negative versus 64 percent positive; in France, 20 percent negative versus 79 percent positive; and in Britain, 9 percent positive versus 73 percent favorable. (According to Pew, 77 percent of Americans have favorable views toward Jews, compared with 7 percent unfavorable.)

I asked him to explain and he wrote back (original text; I don't want you to think it's not authentic):

Shalom Yisrael.

I can guess that on the last years Spain experiences a growing process of Islamization, both from immigration from Muslim countries and from conversion of "Christians" to Islam.

I put "Christians" in quotation mark because there is a large zone in southern Spain, Andalucía, or Al-Andalus in Arabic, that always felt very close to the Arabic Culture and even Religion. That feeling is flourishing on the last years, as you can see from the next links I add. (see here and here)

And don´t forget the deep legacy of Franco, who drove in all his speeches a pressing message of 'anti' three concepts: Jews, Communists and Free-Masons.

Finally, even for atheist or secular Spaniards, the inheritance of the Roman Catholic Church was always beating, and I remember from my childhood the sermons every Sunday with a clear quotation against the deceiver Jews.

Do you know Javier Solana? He always adds a subtle message against Israel, only a smooth hint, that for us, or for any western listener doesn´t means any special thing, but that for a Spaniard is a clear explanation of the 'real' situation: 'those are Jews, what else do you expect from them?'

Well, so there is a problem.