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Portugal to Follow Spain’s Lead on Sephardic Jewry Citizenship

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BPortuguese Minister Adolfo Mesquita Nunes said a draft bill on the law will be ready soon.
Portuguese Minister Adolfo Mesquita Nunes said a draft bill on the law will be ready soon.
Jews who fled during the Spanish expulsion of 1492 were initially granted refuge in Portugal, but just three years later they faced expulsion yet again.

And now, the Jerusalem Post reports that Portugal plans to follow Spain’s lead and grant citizenship to the descendants of Sephardic Jews that were exiled in the 15th century, the country’s tourism minister said last weekend.

Portuguese Minister Adolfo Mesquita Nunes told Channel One’s View of the World program that the wording of a draft bill, similar to that announced by Spain just one week ago, will be ready soon.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Jews who fled as a result of the Spanish expulsion of 1492 were initially granted refuge in Portugal, but they faced expulsion just three years later by Manuel I of Portugal. Jews who stayed in the country faced harshly oppressive policies.

Nunes, who was in Israel last week on a state mission, told Portuguese media as saying that he planned to bolster Israeli tourism to his country.

Spanish Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon recently submitted a draft legislation, on behalf of the cabinet, to the legislature that would grant citizenship to anyone who could prove Sephardic Jewish identity or a “special connection” to Spain, according to the Jerusalem Post.

An applicant will be required to present a certificate either from the Federation or from a recognized rabbinical body overseas in order to be considered for the law.

“People who speak Ladino [Judeo-Spanish] will also be considered, and those who have Sephardi last names [will be accepted; however] how the list will be compiled and which names will appear on it is at present a complicated challenge, and any lists that have been published so far, claiming to be official, are not,” a spokeswoman for the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain told The Jerusalem Post.

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