Entry into force of the law new changes in citizenship law Portugal put The pillar of war against the Jewish community. A law amended in March and required since September, Two new requirements for Sephardic descendants Those who want to get a Portuguese passport: yes an inherited property Portuguese territory or possession frequent traveler These assumptions significantly limited attribution of nationality to this group and provoked protests from the country’s largest, the Porto Israel Congregation (CIP for Portuguese abbreviation); political and economic elites.
In a complaint filed with the European 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 conspiracy” anti-Semitic“ It led to the “overthrow” of the law, which since 2015 facilitated the nationalization of the descendants of Sephardic peoples, leading to the “rejection, defamation and criminal persecution” of Jews living in the country. People identified by the CIP include the current Speaker of Parliament, Augusto Santos Silva, and former Justice Minister Francisca Van Dunem.
alleged irregularities
Both Santos Silva and Van Dunem, who were Foreign Ministers until March of this year, were two of the people most in favor of changing the law after learning of the alleged allegations. irregularities in the processing of applications from the Sephardic. Procedures that the Portuguese government delegated to religious organizations such as the CIP, whose rabbi was arrested in March. take citizenship of thousands of people in exchange for moneyincluding russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. The acquisition of a Portuguese passport by former Chelsea football club owner Abramovich sparked a wave of criticism of the Government amid sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Gabriel Senderowicz, head of the CIP, explained to El Periódico of the Prensa Ibérica group that the police operation known as ‘The Open Door’ was an operation. trying to harm all Jews with Portuguese connections. “Operation Open Door was presented to the world as the sale of passports by a money-moving rabbi, but it’s more of a ‘Palestinian case’ involving the use of justice for political ends, conspiracy theories, and fabricated anonymous accusations by state agents and professional slanderers. Single purpose “To destroy the credibility of a law, certain community leaders, and people of legally confirmed Sephardic origin.” said Senderowicz via email.
antisemitic conspiracy
CIP president, Portugal as a sovereign state free to change the laws as he sees fit, but criticizes that the debate over changing the law, which opened in 2020, to allow the nationalization of Sephardic Jews, is “led by people who lack common sense and no one stops them, both in Parliament and in the media.” Senderowicz said the complaint submitted to the European Prosecutor’s Office “does not attack the State or Government, but rather a dozen specific people for being in the service of a conspiracy”.
Santos Silva explains: Alleged involvement in an anti-Semitic conspiracy ‘absurd’. “As Minister of Foreign Affairs, I have appeared in Parliament to make statements about what is going on in the various Portuguese consulates. I condemn the use of errors in the law to obtain Portuguese citizenship illegitimately by persons who have little or nothing to do with Portuguese citizenship. Sephardi of the 15th century eventually expelled from Portugal”, explains the current Speaker of Parliament. Justice withdrew the passport of the rabbi of Porto, the chief suspect in the operation, pending investigations.