Spain 2004

 

Following the March 2004 terrorist attacks in Madrid, the Spanish police discovered in April that the same M-11 bombers had been planning imminent attacks on two Jewish targets, also in the Madrid area. There was a considerable increase in antisemitic activity after 11 March. The North African city of Melilla was the scene of several assaults on Jewish individuals. Some public officials, such as the mayor of Oleiros, took blatantly anti-Israel action.

 

Jewish community

The Jewish population of Spain is estimated roughly at 20,000; however, the number of registered Jews does not exceed 14,000. The majority emigrated from Spanish-speaking regions such as northern Morocco and South America (mainly Argentina). The Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain currently consists of thirteen traditional and Orthodox communities, the largest of which are located in Madrid, Barcelona and on the Costa del Sol (Málaga). There are also associations of Conservative Jews and of secular Jews. In Barcelona, a Reform community, the Progressive Jewish Community Atid (Future) of Catalonia, is active. A cultural magazine, Raíces (Roots), appears regularly and is distributed also in South America. The Federation of Jewish Communities has an Internet radio, Radio Sefarad, www.radiosefarad.org. Three Jewish day schools operate in Madrid, Barcelona and Melilla (Spanish North Africa).

 

political parties and extra-parliamentary groups

Elections

The terrorist attack on two commuter trains in Madrid in March 2004 (192 people killed and almost 1,800 injured), known as March 11 (M-11), had a major political impact. Three days after the event, the Socialist Party, headed by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, scored an unexpected victory in the general elections. Many political analysts considered this turnabout in public feeling as opposition to a confrontation with terrorism. Others contended that the public only wanted the return of Spanish troops from an ‘illegal’ war. The slogans of peace activists who demonstrated in many Spanish cities following the Madrid attack blamed Bush and Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar and not Islamic terrorism. Their signs read, inter alia, “Aznar murderer,” “Out with Bush” and “Stop America,” and some people carried PLO flags. Thus, Islamic terrorists attained two important political goals in Madrid: for the first time they succeeded in influencing a democratic process in the western world and they caused a break in the American-led coalition in Iraq.

On 3 April 2004, the Spanish police discovered that the same M-11 bombers had been planning imminent attacks on two Jewish targets, also in the Madrid area, a threat long feared among the community.

 

Far Right Organizations

Spain has a long history of fringe far right organizations that are openly xenophobic and neo-Nazi. They are organized in small parties and groups whose ideology ranges from extreme radicalism to traditionalism. The extreme right has no parliamentary representation. After continual electoral failures, they tried to organize a comeback for the general elections of 14 March 2004, forming the Frente Español, which included a broad spectrum of Spanish extremists, under the slogan “For the unity of Spain.” Frente Español is led by the Democracia Nacional, which emulates Le Pen’s Front National in France. The traditionalist Falange Española de las JONS, Falange Española Independiente and Falange Española Auténtica, small fascist parties mostly concerned with their own survival, also ran in the elections as they have done in all previous ones. None of these parties won any seats.

 

The Left

The spectrum of the left, from extreme to mainstream, is far from being monolithic in opinions about Israel and the Jews, and each party/group usually encompasses a range of views. For example, the anti-Israel/anti-Jewish influence of some members of the Esquerra Republicana, which is part of the socialist coalition in the Catalonian regional government, is countered by another member, Pilar Rahola (see ASW 2003/4). A similar situation exists in other regional governments (communidades autónomas) and at the state level.

           

Antisemitic Activities

Violence, Vandalism, Harassment and Insults

There was a considerable increase in antisemitic activity after 11 March. In fact, religious members of the Jewish community of Spain fear wearing a skullcap because it could make them a target for attacks. In March, the walls of two Jewish synagogues in Barcelona (Orthodox and Reform) were daubed with antisemitic graffiti. Also in March and April, some Jewish worshippers were verbally attacked as they left the Barcelona Jewish Community Center. A monument commemorating the Holocaust in Barcelona was desecrated twice, in May and June 2004. In October, a group of individuals painted antisemitic slogans in German on the walls of the Reform synagogue and of the Jewish school in Barcelona. The statue of Samuel Halevi in Toledo, a Jewish treasurer of the Middle Ages who, in 1366, built the Transito Synagogue in that city, was torched and defaced with red pain and swastikas, on 26 August.

On the African continent, the Spanish city of Melilla in North Africa was the scene of three attacks in August on members of the Jewish community. The perpetrators were groups of local North Africans. The first victim was an old man who was beaten by the door of the main synagogue on a Saturday morning. The other two were Jewish families shopping in an Arab suk (open market). They were insulted and pelted with stones. The windows of one of their cars were also smashed. Also, in August, the Shukrun Synagogue in Melila was stoned by a group of young men, who shouted “Jews, get out!” at worshippers. It should be noted that the majority of the population in these cities consists of Moroccan Muslims, many of whom hold Spanish citizenship, and that Morocco seeks to integrate Ceuta and Mellila into its own national territory.

            In June 2004 a soccer game took place in Madrid, with both teams – Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid – offering the revenues to the victims and families of March 11. Some spectators, displaying swastikas and other Nazi emblems, unfurled a long banner reading “Jews, Bastards.” Nobody intervened, despite Spain’s anti-racist laws.

             

Official and Media Attitudes toward Israel/the Jews

Reports about Israel occupy a disproportionate amount of international news space in the Spanish media. Most coverage of the conflict is superficial and sensationalist, with Israel, and by extension, the Jews, being discredited – and sometimes demonized (see ASW 2003/4). The large circulation, mainstream newspaper El Pais, for example, carried an anti-Israel caricature that compared Israel’s security fence to the wall around the Warsaw Ghetto, with the caption, “The Israeli wall is more effective.”

In November, the mayor of Oleiros (A Coruña) approved public signs that described Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as an ‘animal’ and members of his government ‘neo-Nazis’. Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos responded by issuing a strong statement calling on the mayor to remove the signs. Following intense pressure from national and local government officials, as well as from a former EU special representative for the Middle East peace process, and extensive criticism in the national press, the mayor finally agreed to remove the signs.

Jewish representatives in Barcelona approached local government officials requesting the removal of a Star of David positioned beside a swastika on a city hall web page. City officials removed the symbols without explanation and did not apologize for the incident.

            According to the Spanish newspaper ABC (8 Sept.), an abbreviated version of Mein Kampf, published by Fapa Publishing Co., Barcelona, was in 10th place on a best sellers list of the Casa del Libro chain of bookstores.

 

responses to antisemitism

Official and Public Activity

Foreign Minister Moratinos attended the opening session of an international rabbinical congress in Córdoba (12–15 Oct.), honoring the Jewish Cordovan philosopher and scientist Maimónides (1134–1204). He announced that the government was considering instituting a Holocaust memorial day − 27 January, the date of the liberation of Auschwitz − in the national calendar, a decision subsequently approved in December. He also noted the government’s support for holding the third OSCE conference on antisemitism and other racist/tolerance issues in June 2005 in Cordoba, and for the building of a Sephardic House in Madrid commemorating the history of Spanish Judaism.

            On 15 October, the Council of Ministers approved a proposal of the Ministry of Justice, called the Foundation for Pluralism and Coexistence. The Foundation will provide approximately 3 million euro in public funding for non-religious cultural, educational and social integration programs and projects of the non-Catholic confessions (Muslim, Jewish, and Evangelical) that are party to the 1992 Cooperation Agreement (see ASW 2003/4; also below).

            At a meeting held in November, David Lévy-Bentolila, president of B’nai Brith Europe (BBE) discussed with Foreign Minister Moratinos various Jewish issues, among them inclusion of the Holocaust in history courses taught in Spanish schools, and the Spanish media’s treatment of Israel and the Jews, with Lévy-Bentolila accusing the Spanish press of misuse of freedom of expression to an extent not found in other countries. Regarding antisemitism on TV and cable, Moratinos noted that the Spanish government had been approached but had refused to broadcast al-Manar (the Hizballah channel) programs. The foreign minister promised to support a BBE plan for the formation of a European Authority of Broadcasting Content. As for the OSCE conference on antisemitism, which the minister seeks to host in Córdoba, Lévy-Bentolila pointed out that the success of such a conference depended heavily on the ability to keep it specifically focused on antisemitism, and on dispelling any risk of other issues blurring the subject.

During meetings with government officials, representatives of the Jewish community asked the Spanish authorities for additional protection for its institutions, since traditional security measures were no longer considered adequate. They also requested an amendment of the 1992 Agreements of Cooperation so that Jewish and other religious minorities might also receive financial support. Official reaction has been positive, but any legal measures drafted have to pass several stages before ratification in the Spanish parliament.

 

Legal Activity

Fourteen members of the neo-Nazi Hammerskin-Espania were arrested in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Guadalajara in August. During their raids police found weapons and antisemitic material. They have been charged with 48 counts of illegal and violent activity.

            In May the Mossos d’Esquandra (regional police squad) broke up a neo-Nazi gang in Barcelona, resulting in the arrest of three for advocating genocide of the Jews. The Mossos confiscated books, magazines and weapons.