The Israeli Community of Porto (CIP) reported to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, in a 131-page complaint, the existence of an “anti-Semitic conspiracy” in Portugal, referring to changes in the naturalization regime for descendants of Sephardic Jews.
In the complaint, in the form of a book entitled “The First Great Anti-Semitic Conspiracy of the 21st Century” and to which Lusa had access this Friday, the CIP specifies that “Unknown individuals among the ruling elites joined elements of the executive, legislative, judicial and media branches in a violent anti-Semitic conspiracy.“.
The complaint adds that this “conspiracy” was intended to “politically reject the large influx of Israeli citizens interested in Portuguese nationality and destroy the law that granted nationality to Jews of Sephardic descent.”
at stake are modifications to the naturalization regime for descendants of Sephardic Jews — Jewish community that was expelled from Portugal in the 15th century by decree of King Manuel I — which came into force on Thursday, with registration services struggling with the daily submission of thousands of applications to grant Portuguese nationality.
The new legal framework restricted the conditions for accessing Portuguese citizenship, requiring proof of “regular lifelong travel” or inheritance, when “such facts demonstrate an effective and lasting connection with Portugal.”
The CIP considered that the “Soviet-style” anti-Semitic “conspiracy”, which it says is being carried out by government officials and the media, is aimed at “destroying” the legislation that guarantees Portuguese nationality to Sephardic Jews and the Jewish community of Porto. , in reference to the “Operation Open Door”, carried out since February by the Judicial Police and which investigates alleged illegalities in the issuance, by the CIP, of certificates of Portuguese nationality to Sephardic Jews.
The CIP says the investigation was based on “anonymous accusations” and subjected entire families to “slanderous exposure.”
“The case of ‘Operation Open Door’, which was presented to the world as the sale of passports by a rabbinate acting for money, is a ‘Palestinian case’ that attacks Israeli Jews, rich Jews and all the significant Jewish realities linked to Portugal”, underlined the CIP.
In a response sent to Lusa, the CIP recalled that the complaint indicated that, “in addition to the Community, the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and practically the entire country were also victims of a conspiracy.
The sovereignty of the Portuguese State, which can terminate or modify this law and any other law at any time, is not in question, but the procedure could and should have been implemented in another way. As the Community informed the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, ending the law would have been simple. It would be enough for an experienced ruler to have had a frank conversation with the communities at the beginning of 2020 saying that ‘Portugal cannot absorb a million Jews of Portuguese Sephardic origin’. Everything would be resolved,” added the CIP.
Between 2015 and 2021, according to data from the IRN and the Ministry of Justice sent to Lusa, Portugal granted Portuguese nationality to 56,685 descendants of Sephardim, having denied 300 applications for naturalization out of a total of 137,087 registered in the registers. At the end of 2021 there were 80,102 pending applications.
Source: Observadora
