Virtually Sephardic? The Marketing and Reception of the New Iberian Laws of Nationality in Israel

Abstract

The relations between Iberia and its Sephardic diasporas have undergone innumerable reversals and revivals as Spain and Portugal experienced processes of nation-state building. These relations reached a climax with the 2015 New Nationality Laws for Sephardic Jews, that allow them to become Portuguese or Spanish citizens. Given an unexcepted worldwide interest, the governments provided different redefinitions of the criteria of the process. Initially seen as a symbolic act, the attribution of nationality to Sephardic Jews raises questions not just about culture and collective memory, but, above all, about economy, diplomacy and realpolitik in the Iberian countries as much as in the Israeli society itself.