The entry into force of the new changes to the nationality law in Portugal have put in foot of war to the Jewish community. A law that was modified in March and that since September requires Two new requirements for descendants of Sephardim who want to obtain a Portuguese passport: have inherited a property in Portuguese territory or to have frequently traveled to the country throughout his life. These assumptions have considerably limited the attribution of nationality to this group and have provoked protests from the Jewish Community of Porto (CIP, in its acronym in Portuguese), the largest in the country, which attributes the modifications to a plot orchestrated by a part of the political and economic elites.
In a complaint sent to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office earlier this month, the CIP points to former members of António Costa’s socialist government, members of Parliament and the media such as instigators of a “conspiracy anti-Semite“ that has caused the “destruction” of the law that since 2015 facilitated the nationalization of the descendants of the Sephardim and that has led to “the rejection, defamation and criminal persecution” of the Jews residing in the country. Among the people identified by the CIP are the current president of Parliament, Augusto Santos Silva, and the former Minister of Justice, Francisca Van Dunem.
alleged irregularities
Both Santos Silva, Minister of Foreign Affairs until March of this year, and Van Dunem have been two of the people who have been most favorable to the modification of the law after learning of the alleged irregularities in the processing of applications of the Sephardim. Procedures that the Portuguese government delegated to religious organizations such as the CIP, whose rabbi was arrested in March for allegedly facilitating the obtaining the nationality of thousands of people in exchange for moneyincluding that of russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. The obtaining of the Portuguese passport by Abramovich, former owner of the Chelsea football club, unleashed a wave of criticism of the Government amid the sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.
The president of the CIP, Gabriel Senderowicz, explained to El Periódico, of the Prensa Ibérica group, that the police operation, known as ‘Open Door’, has been a attempt to harm all Jews with links in Portugal. “Operation Open Door was presented to the world as the sale of passports by a rabbi acting for money, but it is more of a ‘Palestinian case,'” which includes the use of justice for political ends, of conspiracy theories and anonymous denunciations fabricated by state agents and professional slanderers. The only objective is to destroy the credibility of a law, of some community leaders and of people whose Sephardic origin was legally approved,” Senderowicz said by email.
antisemitic conspiracy
The president of the CIP insists that Portugal, as a sovereign state, is free to modify the laws when it sees fit, but criticizes that the debate on the alteration of the law that allows the nationalization of Sephardic Jews, opened in 2020, “has been led by people without common sense and whom no one stopped, both in Parliament and in the media “. Senderowicz assures that the complaint presented to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office “does not attack the State or the Government, but rather a dozen specific people for having been in the service of a conspiracy”.
For his part, Santos Silva describes “absurd” his alleged involvement in an anti-Semitic plot. “As Minister of Foreign Affairs, I appeared in Parliament to give explanations about what was happening in various Portuguese consulates. What I denounced was the use of errors in a law to illegitimately obtain Portuguese nationality by people who little or had nothing to do with the Sephardim expelled from Portugal at the end of the 15th century”, explains the current president of Parliament. Justice has withdrawn the passport of the rabbi of Porto, the main accused of the operation, pending the progress of the investigations.