SPAIN 2002-3

 

Spain recorded an increase in antisemitic incidents in 2002. The intensification of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the September 11 attacks prompted a revival of traditional antisemitic myths and canards, such as blood libel allegations. Spaniards scored highest in antisemitic attitudes in a survey carried out by the ADL among ten European countries.

 

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

Small numbers of Jews began returning to Spain in the 19th century (the first Jews to live openly since the expulsion in 1492). The Jewish population of Spain numbers 14,000 out of a total population of 39.1 million. The main Jewish centers are Madrid (3,500) and Barcelona (3,500). Smaller communities are located in other cities and towns, notably Málaga, as well as Ceuta and Melilla in Spanish North Africa.

The Federación de Comunidades Israelitas de España (Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain) represents Jewish interests to the government. There are Jewish day schools in Barcelona, Madrid and Málaga. A cultural journal, Raíces (Roots), appears regularly. The Segovia-Israel Association of Cultural Relations studies the influence of Jewish culture in Spain.

 

RACIST AND ANTISEMITIC organizations

The Extreme Right

The Spanish extreme right has no parliamentary representation. It is made up of various small parties and groups which, following repeated electoral failures, are trying to regroup in order to gain parliamentary seats in the 2004 elections. The Frente Español (Spanish Front), which encompasses a broad spectrum of the radical Spanish right, was formed in the last months of 2002 for this purpose. Among its constituents are Falange Española, Frente Nacional del Trabajo de Valladolid (National Labor Front of Valladolid), segments of España 2000 (see below) and of the traditional fascist Patria Libre, former members of the defunct Fuerza Nueva of Blas Piñar, and defectors from the Alianza por la Unidad Nacional of Ricardo Saenz de Ynestrilla, who is serving a prison term (see ASW 2000/1). The front, which stands for “Spanish unity,” has held several events, including a demonstration in Madrid in February 2003 against Basque and Catalan secessionism. It is accused of attacking members of leftist parties and unions.

Democracia Nacional (DN) represents in Spain the values of the French FN. Its leaders are activists from various radical groups, including Acción Radical, Nación Joven, Vanguardia Nacional Revolucionaria, Bases Autónomas and the now defunct Juntas Españolas and CEDADE. DN led the coalition Plataforma España 2000, headed by Francisco Perez Corrales of the DN, for the 2000 election (see ASW 2001/2). DN campaigns against illegal immigration and is a strong supporter of law and order. In March 2002 members of Plataforma España 2000 battled with anti-fascists during a demonstration it organized in the neighborhood of Ruzafa, which houses the largest concentration of immigrants in Valencia. They chanted xenophobic slogans and extolled Franco and Hitler.

Movimiento Social Republicano (MSR), created in mid-2000 and led by Juan Antonio Llopart and Juan Antonio Aguilar, comprises the neo-fascist groups Alternativa Europea, Resistencia and the Red Vértice network. The MSR finds common cause with Islamist organizations and NGOs in actively supporting the Palestinians and opposing the Iraq war, NATO and US policy. At the same time, they participate in anti-immigrant demonstrations, together with racist and xenophobic groups such as Blood & Honour. Resistencia is the most militant group within the MSR with respect to the Palestinian issue and the September 11 attacks, which it supported unequivocally.

Small traditionalist fascist parties such as Falange Española de las Jons, Falange Española Independiente (FEI) and Falange Española Autentica are concerned mainly with their own survival. Falange Española de las Jons experienced some growth due to the absorption of groups such as Nacion Joven, Resistencia Nacional de la Juventud and Patria Libre. Confederacion de ex combatientes is an umbrella organization linking associations of veterans who yearn for Spain’s fascist past.

A number of neighborhood neo-Nazi groups are active. Juventudes de Canillejas (Youth of Canillejas) in Madrid, for example, sprayed racist graffiti around the neighborhood and destroyed the post boxes of immigrant assistance association members, whose photographs they took in order to intimidate them. The group ran a website filled with crude texts and slogans such as “The media is controlled by the Jews.” Following a complaint by neighborhood residents, police arrested the webmaster and the leader of the group, which is linked to the transnational Hammerskins. The soccer stadium is fertile ground for recruiting new members to such organizations. A local section of Blood & Honour operates in the capital.

 

The Islamist Network

Investigations into the al-Qa‘ida terrorist network confirm that Spain has been a key center for bin Ladin’s operations. For instance, according to the police and to Europe’s intelligence services, two al-Qa‘ida leaders arrested in Morocco in May 2002 had organized a “summit” in Costa del Sol with bin Ladin’s military chief in Europe six days before the attacks of 11 September 2001 against the US. One of them also organized the truck bombing against the D’jerba Synagogue in Tunisia which killed 21 in April 2002. Further, eight weeks before the September 11 attacks two of the suicide pilots and the coordinator of the anti-US operation met in Tarragona. Passports, identity documents and credit cards stolen from tourists by common thieves in Spain sometimes end up in the hands of al-Qa‘ida members. Since Judge Baltasar Garzón began so-called Operación Dátil police have arrested about 20 al-Qa‘ida members and largely dismantled the group’s financial network in Spain. (For further information on Islamist groups operating in Spain and in Spanish North Africa, see ASW 2001/2.)

 

ANTISEMITic and RACIST ACTIVITIES

Spain recorded an increase in antisemitic incidents in 2002. The intensification of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict and the September 11 attacks also prompted a revival of traditional antisemitic myths and canards in the Spanish media, including blood libel charges (such as the Jews’ alleged murder of Christ and of Christian children in the Middle Ages), as well as claims that Judaism is a vindictive religion and the Jewish god is “genocidal.” Comparisons of Israeli actions with Hitler/Nazis and the Palestinian fate with the Holocaust were also common themes in the mainstream media. For example, on 23 April 2002, the magazine El Jueves (Thursday) displayed on its front page a caricature of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with a pig’s face, a skull cap, a swastika and the caption, “This wild animal.”

Among violent incidents perpetrated against the Jewish community, on 11 January 2002, a group of neo-Nazis of the JNR (National Revolutionary Youth) blocked the street leading to the Madrid Synagogue, painted antisemitic graffiti on the walls and threatened the doorman. They dispersed after the police were called. Unknown persons tried to set the Bet El synagogue alight in Ceuta in March by pouring fuel at the entrance and igniting it. Firefighters were quick to put out the fire.

Among other incidents, antisemitic graffiti appeared on the wall of the synagogue of the Jewish community of Barcelona and the Jewish community center in Barcelona was the target of telephone threats and antisemitic graffiti appeared on neighboring buildings. Further, a skinhead group which exploded a device in the Parish of Benicarlo (Castellón Province), where no Jews live, was also apparently responsible for spray-painting slogans such as “Viva bin Ladin” and “Jew murderers” there.

 

Opinion Poll

According to a survey conducted in September 2002 by the ADL among adults of five European countries (Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy and Switzerland), Spain scored highest in antisemitic views – 34 percent compared to an average of 21 percent among all five countries. In response to the statement that Jews showed more loyalty to Israel that to their own country, 72 percent of Spaniards agreed compared to an average of 56 percent. Seventy-one percent of Spaniards thought Jews were very powerful in international financial markets (average, 40 percent), 34 percent considered that Jews cared only about their own (average 29 percent), 33 percent concurred that Jews were more inclined to use dubious means to obtain what they wanted (average 25 percent) and 57 percent believed that Jews still dwelt too much on the Holocaust (average 49 percent). Spain still retained the highest score in antisemitic attitudes when compared also with the five countries (Belgium, France, Denmark, Germany and the UK) surveyed in June 2002.

Racist Activity

Despite having the lowest incidence of xenophobia (together with Sweden) in Europe, according to a report published by the Spanish Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Spain still witnesses racial/anti-immigrant manifestations such as violent attacks and demonstrations. In 2002, the foreign population in Spain constituted 2 percent of the total population, and its share was rising.

According to the Center of Sociological Investigations, 53.8 percent of Spaniards think there are too many foreigners living in Spain and almost 60 percent believe that immigration and insecurity are related. Immigration was only third in the list of issues preoccupying Spaniards, after unemployment and ETA terrorism.

 

responses to antisemitism and racism

Holocaust Commemoration

In May, November and December 2002, several ceremonies took place to commemorate the Holocaust. Violeta Friedman, considered a symbol of the Holocaust in Spain, was given a posthumous award during the fourth annual campaign against racism and intolerance in Madrid, and three persons (Spanish Congressman Gustavo de Aristegui, the Argentinean consul in Barcelona and the Israeli ambassador) were honored by the Raoul Wallenberg international foundation, in the Swedish embassy in Madrid on the 90th birthday of Raoul Wallenberg, for the services they rendered toward raising awareness of the Holocaust.

 

Public Activity

Spanish representatives of ten religions including Judaism, as well as journalists, legal experts and historians, participated in Madrid in a forum dedicated to “respect for life” and “in support of peace,” organized by the General Directorate of Religious Affairs in the Justice Ministry. It was stressed that one of the guiding principles that most religions have in common is the dictum “Thou shalt not kill.”

In October 2002, two exhibitions were opened to the public, one in Zaragoza, “The Jewish Legacy in Aragon” and the other in Toledo, “Remembering Sefarad.” Both sought to demonstrate the coexistence of Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Middle Ages. The exhibitions were so popular that they were shown for a month longer than previously planned. The second exhibition was sent to Washington, under the auspices of the Spanish government and B’nai B’rith International, where it was inaugurated by Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has asked the Spanish education and culture minister to take action against an art gallery in Malaga after the director refused to stage an exhibition of paintings by Haifa artist Patricia Sasson on the grounds that the gallery would not collaborate with anyone connected with the State of Israel. The director had said in March 2003: “We certainly hold an antisemitic attitude to any person related to that country...”

 

Legal Activity

In June 2002, the police arrested ten neo-Nazi skinheads aged between 18 and 23, who attacked a family of immigrants, seriously injuring one of them. Some 200 people rallied to support the detainees. They shouted slogans such as “We are not racists” and “The Arabs should pay,” and collected signatures for their release.

The Minors Tribunal of Murcia sentenced ten youngsters between the ages of 13 and 16 to 28 hours of work on behalf of immigrants, after they attacked a group of Moroccans and Ecuadorians and set fire to the boat they were living in.