Last summer, we joined the Touro University faculty on a Jewish history course comprised of a study abroad program in Spain and Portugal. The course consisted of extensive lectures and practical fieldwork, visiting sites in both countries that were relevant not only to Jewish history but also to the current Jewish community.
Our experiences in both countries varied greatly. Both nations have expressed regret for former prejudicial actions – the expulsion of Jews and the Inquisition in Spain – and both have offered citizenship to Jewish immigrants capable of demonstrating a historical connection to their countries. While in Portugal, we experienced a true sense of regret for its former persecution of the Jews. In Spain, however, we felt nothing of the sort. Significant progress has been made there, and a modern Spanish Jewish community exists, but any attempt at memorializing their notorious Inquisition seems performative, at best.
This past week, Spain was one of three European countries to recognize a Palestinian state.
While we, too, adamantly support a two-state solution, we are convinced that its establishment with neither a populace nor a government truly desirous of living in peace with its neighbors cannot benefit either party. On the contrary, such an event’s occurrence at the wrong time will only serve to institutionalize a state of war between Israel and those who have yet to accept its existence. Put plainly, peace in the region will be dependent upon the Palestinians’ acceptance of Israel’s right to exist.
Why did Spain recognize Palestinian statehood?
Regardless of our own views of a Palestinian state, the characters of the three European countries that led this current declaration are instructive. Ireland has experienced its own history of suffering from colonialism, which makes its identification with those who purport to be oppressed understandable (especially given an incomplete understanding of the current situation and, frankly, a skewed sense of history). Norway, for its part, helped negotiate the failed Oslo Accords but has maintained a stake in revitalizing the concept of the two-state solution.
It is Spain, however, that catches us by surprise. As we observed firsthand, the Spanish have already, at least superficially, apologized for their infamous Inquisition. They’ve attempted to rehabilitate a Jewish presence in Spain and attract Jewish tourism with the notion that they sincerely regret the darkest moment in their nation’s history. But our own school’s recent participation in revisiting Jewish history on the Iberian Peninsula afforded us a perspective different from that of diplomats, tourists, or even current residents of those countries.
To wit: In Spain, the Spanish Inquisition and its accompanying expulsion are memorialized by small, embedded wall plaques at several key locations. These plaques contain the Hebrew word zachor (“remember”) in artistically formed letters. The plaques are less than one square foot in size. Unless one is searching for them, they are largely unnoticeable.
Moreover, when we visited the Plaza Mayor, where numerous Jews were burned at the stake, the victims were referred to as “heretics” while the local guides we hired, to supplement our own faculty, downplayed any connection to the Inquisition or expulsion. Privately, some of the locals we hired were more candid. They admitted that they had been instructed not to be upfront about inquisitions, expulsions, torture, or murders. It was imprudent to upset the authorities. For our group, the overall experience was depressing. We left feeling that it was all a show.
By sharp contrast, the situation in Portugal could not have been more different. There, the sites where Jews had been set ablaze or tortured were clearly memorialized and described in vivid detail by official guides. In the places we visited, we sensed sincere regret from Portuguese officials regarding their country’s inhumane torture of Jews. They shared a real hope that things would be different in the future.
Much has been written about the potential nexus of anti-Zionism and antisemitism. Many have claimed that the two are separate and distinct. While theoretically that might be the case, in practice most aggressive anti-Zionists can hardly contain their own frothing antisemitism. How else does one account for attacks on Jews and the recent systemic ostracizing of Jews who are neither Israeli nor display any clear connection to the State of Israel?
Indeed, anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism, until it is – and this includes the searing contempt with which Israel is treated because it is a Jewish state.
Cooler and unprejudiced heads recognize that a two-state solution is complex. Spain may argue that its support for such a state at this time is motivated by justice. But Spain’s own anti-Zionism – tainted by its historic and faintly regretted torturous antisemitism – makes the country’s sense of “justice” a tad suspect.
Dr. Alan Kadish is president of Touro University. Karen Sutton is an associate professor of history and director of the Honors Program at Touro’s Lander College for Women.