Sephardic Jews to be given automatic Spanish citizenship; Muslims complain

Where did they go?

MADRID Ancestors of today's Sephardic Jews were thrown out of Spain together with the Muslim Moors, by the Christian Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. Until recently, they have had to have been residing in Spain for two years and prove financial sufficiency to get Spanish nationality. Now they are being allowed to obtain automatic citizenship if they can produce a certificate confirming their descendancy. The move does not apply, though, to the descendants of Jews who ostensibly converted to Christianity to escape the persecution that went on for the better part of the 16th century, called Conversos. The new law says that these must convert 'back' to Judaism to qualify. There are calculated to be some 45,000 people of Sephardic origin in Spain at present. The Muslim community, however (a full article on this subject will soon be available on SpainInformer.com)