Ambassador's farewell

In what reads like a farewell letter to the Spanish people, Israel's now ex-ambassador to Spain, Raphael Schutz, tells us a few home truths - of which we were hardly unaware. To begin with, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, and the forced conversion of those who remained, has long deprived us of coexistence with flesh-and-blood Jews, "causing the proliferation of anti-Semitic stereotypes."

But his simplistic reduction ignores many aspects of reality. Only in appearance did Jews disappear from the Iberian Peninsula. In spite of the Inquisition, the Hispano-Jewish elite continued to loom large in our culture. The converts ("New Christians") remained as a real intellectual elite of the Peninsula - so much so, that crypto-Jewish personalities who range from Fernando de Rojas to Spinoza account for much, even most, of the splendid Spanish culture of the "Golden Age."

True, Spain's "anti-Semitism without Jews" (not particular to Spain but shared with countries such as Poland) lasted well into the 20th century. Yes, Mr Schutz, anti-Semitism persists in Spain three decades after Franco. Methodical opinion surveys show that, after the Gypsy and the hated Moor, the imaginary Jew occupies third place in the ranking of popular Spanish racial prejudice. But to deduce that this historic background "dictates the Spanish attitude to Israel" is to make a very great leap. To be a Jew, a Zionist, an Israeli, or a religious extremist of the sort that is now lording it in the occupied territories, are four different things. To put them in the same bag confuses, rather than clarifies, the matter.

apart from a handful of bigots who yearn for the days of Franco, the conservative political class of Spain, traditionally anti-Jewish, now support the policies of Netanyahu and the occupation of the West Bank. Look at our ex-Prime Minister Aznar, who sent Spanish troops to Iraq, and for whom Israel is a sentinel of the West amid the swarthy hordes of Islam. Meanwhile, on the Spanish left there are many who, while supporting a Jewish state, criticize the implacable apartheid imposed on the Palestinians, and call for a just peace between sovereign states, based on internationally recognized frontiers.

Raphael Schutz regrets that the average Spaniard knows about Israel "only through the media [and] never sees positive cultural aspects of Israel [and] is likely to think that only two classes of people exist there - ultraorthodox Jews and soldiers." This accusation of prejudiced Manichaeism in the Spanish media disregards the weight of what is everywhere considered newsworthy. No one here is unaware of the many positive aspects of Israel. But what is more newsworthy: Operation Molten Lead or a show about the daily activities of a nice middle-class Israeli family?

If Spanish correspondents have focused on ultraorthodox Jews and soldiers or, put better, the growing influence of the former upon the latter, it is because this reveals the mental militarization of a society that used to be liberal and secular, and the growth of a religious fundamentalism that is not much preferable to the Islamic kind. The biblical divine promise of the lands of Judea and Samaria to the Tribes of Israel is not a property title duly stamped by a notary, authorizing the eviction from the land of those who were born there and live there. This is the underlying issue that can never be solved by Netanyahu's mealy-mouthed, time-gaining talk, but only by compliance with the UN Security Council resolutions of 1948 and 1967.

Anti-Semitism is a monstrosity, which every decent person rejects. But things have to be put in their place. The ongoing illegal settlement has to be called by its real name: a regime of apartheid, which sooner or later - and the future of Israel depends on it - the government of Tel Aviv will have to abandon.