(ANSAmed) - MADRID, DECEMBER 2 - Spain is one of the EU's five
most anti-Semitic countries. The Jewish population in the
country represents less than 0.2%, and the phenomenon is ignored
by the media, according to the chairman of the Jewish Community
in Spain, Isaac Querub. Querub made his remarks during the
fourth international congress on anti-Semitism, held yesterday
and today in Madrid at the Caja Navarra Foundation, where
anti-Semitic texts were found on the walls yesterday morning.
Experts have studied the rise of new anti-Jewish sentiments
based on stereotypes. These feelings question the legitimacy of
the State of Israel and have become stronger during the crisis,
according to Israel's ambassador to Spain, Alon Bar, and the
director of the Foundation for Pluralism and Cohabitation, José
Manuel Lopez.
''Insults and slogans against Jews are considered to be
normal in Spain, when they reflect an underlying and invisible
anti-Semitism,'' said sociology professor at the University of
Monaco, Alejandro Baer. Baer added that ''negative stereotypes
are widespread and they are a symptom of a social pathology."
According to polls quoted by writer and historian Jon
Juaristi, former general director of the Cervantes Institute,
58% of adults in Spain think that Jews have too much power, and
that they are all rich. On the other hand, 52% of students would
not like to have a Jewish boy as schoolmate. Juaristi pointed
out that during the 40 years of the Francoist period, Jews were
indicated at the people that killed the Christian founder of the
Church, Jesus. During every Catholic mass, prayers were held for
the conversion or punishment of the ''wicked Jews'', until the
Vatican Council ended this tradition in 1965. Franco himself,
the historian underlined, ''died in 1975 against the background
of a 'Jewish-Masonic conspiracy' as the main national enemy, as
he used to say in every speech."
The event, organised by the FCJE, joins European efforts to
eliminate this worrying phenomenon. ''The goal is to expose the
invisibility and denial of the problem in Spain, focusing on
cultural, legal and educational aspects,'' Querub concluded.
(ANSAmed)
