Language:
English
Year of publication:
2009
Titel der Quelle:
Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung
Angaben zur Quelle:
18 (2009) 89-110
Keywords:
Antisemitism
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Arab-Israeli conflict
;
Spain Foreign relations
;
Israel Foreign relations
Abstract:
Recent surveys show that Spain by far holds the highest percentage of negative views of Jews among all non-Muslim countries. Anti-Jewish feelings of the Spanish are merged with anti-Israel sentiments and are greatly influenced by events in the Middle East. Discusses antisemitism in Spain in the 1930s among the anti-Republican right. In 1948 the Francoists, from conservative Catholics to phalangists, deplored the establishment of the State of Israel, regarding it as a client state of the USSR. The restoration of democracy in Spain in the mid-1970s did not make Spain less anti-Jewish or anti-Israeli, with Israel regarded as a client state of American imperialism. The new democratic Spain borrowed much from the antisemitic legacy of the Francoist state. Among the main traits of present Spanish antisemitism are the facts that it appears in the guise of criticism of Israel and solidarity with the Palestinians; that it is shared by the entire spectrum of opinions in Spain, from left to right; and that it includes the relativization and trivialization of the Holocaust. Each time the Holocaust is mentioned by the Spanish media, it is accompanied by mention of the suffering Palestinians and by comparisons between Israelis and Nazis. The specificity of the Spanish anti-Jewish discourse stems not only from the negative image of Zionism and Israel, shared by all of the left camp in Europe, but more from the lack of normalization of Jews and Judaism in Spain.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
