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Antisemitism in Spain is the expression through words or actions of an ideology of hatred towards Jews on Spanish soil.
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Antisemitism in Spain is the expression through words or actions of an ideology of hatred towards Jews on Spanish soil.
Christian anti-Judaism began with the expansion of Christianity on the Iberian Peninsula during the rule of the Roman Empire. Its first violent manifestation occurred in the persecution of Jews in Visigothic Hispania. During the Middle Ages, Jews in al-Andalus, the Muslim-ruled Iberian Peninsula, were designated dhimmis, a protected class in Islam. Despite occasional violent outbursts such as the 1066 Granada massacre, Jews were granted protection to profess their religion in exchange for abiding to certain conditions that limited their rights concerning Muslims. [2]
After the Almoravid invasion from Morocco in the 11th century, the situation of the Jewish population in Muslim territory worsened. [2] During the invasion of the extremist Zahiri-ruled Almohad Caliphate of North Africa, many Jews fled to the northern Christian kingdoms, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the parts of North Africa outside of Almohad control. [3]
Iberian Jews lived in relative peace next to their Christian neighbors. The kings, especially those of the Kingdom of Aragon, regarded the Jews as royal property and it was in their interest to protect them. During this time, the Jews enjoyed relative political freedom, they had posts in the courts and were merchants and businessmen. The Jews used to live separately in juderías or "Jewish quarters".
The dynastic change entailed by the ascension of the House of Trastámara after the Castilian Civil War saw a radicalization of the antisemitic sentiment across the aforementioned crown of Castile, with a convergence of religious doctrinal anti-Judaism, aristocratic political antisemitism, and popular antisemitism exacerbated by the ongoing social and economic crisis of the Late Middle Ages. [4]
Blood libel accusations were spreading and decrees were imposed on the Jewish people. The situation peaked with the Massacre of 1391, in which entire communities were murdered and many were forcibly converted. [5]
In 1492, via the Alhambra Decree, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain ordered the expulsion of a disputed number of Jews from the Crowns of Castile and Aragon, ranging from 45,000 to 200,000, [6] [7] and thus put an end to the largest communities in Europe. The expulsion of the Jews from Navarre followed suit in 1498. [8] The coerced baptisms eventually produced the phenomenon of the conversos , the Inquisition and statutes of limpieza de sangre .
Conspiracies about conversos featured in a notable number of vernacular works printed in the territory of current-day Spain as well as the rest of Iberia throughout the early modern era, underpinning the image of Judaizing conversos as the quintessential folk devils. [9]
Modern antisemitism came to Spain through France. [10] Édouard Drumont's antisemitic tract La France juive was edited in Spain as early as 1889, translated by Pelegrín Casabó y Pagés, who also published an analogous La España judía in 1891. [11] The brand of antisemitism imbued of the Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory increased in Catholic publications after 1898. [12]
Following the October Revolution and the founding of the Spanish Communist Party in 1920, such "anti-Spanish forces" were primarily identified with the "destructive communist virus", which was often considered to be guided by the Jews. [13]
The 1931–45 period saw the peak of modern antisemitism in Spain, which was primarily embraced by the extreme right. [14] In a country with few Jews, this discourse was functional from an ideological standpoint to the rallying of the conservative forces against republicanism and the workers' movement rather than the minuscule Jewish community. [15] The Francoist winning side emerging from the 1936–39 Civil War repressed the Jews, prohibiting their worship and their organizations except in North Africa. [15]
It was during the 1960s that the first Spanish neo-Nazi groups appeared, such as CEDADE. Later on, Spanish Neo-Nazis attempted to use antisemitic discourse to explain the political transition to democracy (1976–1982) after the death of Franco. It drew on the same ideas that had been expressed in 1931 when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed; political revolutions could be explained as the result of various "intrigues".
In 1978, Jews were recognised as full citizens in Spain, and today the Jewish population numbers about 40,000, approximately 0.1% of Spain's population, 20,000 of whom are registered in the Jewish communities. Most live in the larger cities of Spain on the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa or the islands. [16]
Contemporary antisemitism
In early 2026, the Spanish Jewish community and international observers reported a significant rise in digital and physical targeting of Jewish institutions in Catalonia, headlined by the launch of the Barcelonaz project. [17] The project identifies and publicizes the locations of over 150 Jewish businesses, Israeli tech firms, and communal institutions, including the Hatikva Jewish school and various kosher establishments. [18] While the project creators frame the map as an investigation into the "Zionist economy," the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE) has characterized it as an instrument of "stigmatization and hostility" that incites discrimination and potential violence against Jewish citizens. [19]
This development coincided with other incidents in the city, including a physical attack on Israeli mural artists in Barcelona and reports of discriminatory account restrictions for Israeli clients at major Spanish financial institutions like Banco Sabadell, for which the bank’s chairman later apologize. [20] Legal complaints have been filed against the French-hosted platform GoGoCarto, which hosts the Barcelonaz map, alleging that it violates anti-hate laws by targeting a population based on supposed religious or national affiliation. [18]
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internet | - | 1 | 2 |
| Media | 10 | 3 | 7 |
| Attacks on property | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Attacks on persons | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| Trivialisation of the Holocaust | - | 1 | 3 |
| Delegitimizing Israel | - | - | 5 |
| Incidents | - | 1 | 1 |
| Instigation to antisemitism | - | 1 | 2 |
| Legal decisions | - | 6 | - |
| Total | 19 | 12 | 30 |
Surveys conducted in Spain during the 1980s and 1990s indicated an ambivalent public perception of Jews. These studies identified the coexistence of negative stereotypes, including associations with avarice, treachery, and deicide, alongside more favorable characterizations such as a strong work ethic and their sense of responsibility. [22] A subsequent survey carried out in 1998 among approximately 6,000 students across 145 Spanish schools recorded a modest increase in racist attitudes compared with findings from 1993. In this survey, 14.9 percent of respondents supported the expulsion of Jews, compared with 12.5 percent five years earlier. [23]
In the spring of 2002, Spain, along with several other European Union member states, experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents. This development followed the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in October 2000 and was influenced by heightened tensions related to the Middle East conflict. The increase in antisemitic activity peaked between late March and mid-May 2002, a period that coincided with a significant escalation of violence in the region. [24]
Public opinion data published by the Pew Research Center in September 2008 revealed persistently high levels of negative attitudes toward Jews in Spain. According to the study, 46 percent of Spaniards expressed unfavorable views of Jews, a substantial increase from 21 percent in 2005. Spain was the only European country surveyed in which negative perceptions of Jews exceeded positive ones; only 37 percent of respondents reported favorable views. [25] [26]
In September 2009, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a report titled Polluting the Public Square: Anti-Semitic Discourse in Spain, which examined trends in public rhetoric and media representation. The report expressed concern over what it described as the increasing normalization of antisemitic discourse, including the public dissemination of traditional antisemitic stereotypes, the appearance of hostile caricatures in mainstream media, and protest activity in which Israel was accused of genocide and Jews were compared to Nazis. The ADL argued that such developments reflected a blurring of the distinction between criticism of Israeli government policies and antisemitism, a shift it associated with a measurable rise in antisemitic attitudes within Spanish society. [27]
| Trends in Anti-Semitic Attitudes in Spain [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] |
|---|
| Percent responding “probably true” |
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Jews are more loyal to Israel than to this country Jews have too much power in the business world Jews have too much power in international financial markets Jews still talk too much about the Holocaust
|
According to the Report on Anti-Semitism in Spain in 2010, jointly produced by the Observatory on Antisemitism in Spain and the nongovernmental organization Movement Against Intolerance, Spain ranked among the most antisemitic countries in the European Union during a period marked by the most severe economic recession in its modern history. [33]
Public opinion data cited in the report included a poll commissioned by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which found that 58.4 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that Jews were powerful because they controlled the economy and mass media. This belief was more widespread among specific groups, rising to 62.2 percent among university students and 70.5 percent among individuals who identified themselves as politically engaged. More than 60 percent of university students stated that they would not want Jewish classmates. Additional polling indicated that 34.6 percent of the general population held unfavorable or very unfavorable views of Jews. [34] The same data revealed ideological variation in antisemitic attitudes. Hostility toward Jews was reported by 34 percent of respondents identifying with the far right and by 37.7 percent of those identifying with the center-left. Measures of expressed sympathy toward Jews showed slightly higher scores among individuals on the extreme right, with an average of 4.9 on a scale of 1 to 10, compared with a population-wide average of 4.6. Among respondents who acknowledged antipathy toward Jews, only 17 percent attributed this sentiment to the Middle East conflict. Nearly 30 percent cited Jewish religion, customs, or way of life as the basis for their negative views, while slightly more than 20 percent reported disliking Jews without being able to identify a specific reason. [34]
In 2010, Casa Sefarad-Israel initiated a comprehensive sociological study, employing both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, with the objectives of assessing the prevalence of antisemitism in Spain, identifying its sources, and evaluating its intensity. [35] The qualitative findings indicated a decline in traditional forms of antisemitism, which nevertheless persisted in certain segments of society, alongside a rise in attitudes characterized as political or economic in nature. [36] The quantitative component of the study, conducted in April 2010, found that 34.6 percent of respondents expressed unfavorable views of Jews, while 48 percent reported favorable opinions. Levels of unfavorable attitudes toward Jews were comparable to those recorded for other religious groups, including Orthodox Christians and Protestants. Notably, Jews were perceived as a source of societal problems in Spain at a level similar to that attributed to Catholics. Population segmentation analysis suggested relatively uniform patterns of favorable and unfavorable attitudes across religious groups, rather than distinctly differentiated views toward Jews. [37]
Among respondents who expressed unfavorable attitudes toward Jews, 17.5 percent cited Israel’s role in the Middle East conflict as the primary reason, while 31.3 percent identified this factor as explaining why Jews were perceived as creating problems globally. These findings indicated that a significant portion of negative perceptions of Jews in Spain was linked to an association between Jews as a religious group and the policies of the State of Israel. Among those who believed Jews created problems specifically within Spain, the most frequently cited reason, at 11.4 percent, related to issues commonly associated with immigration. This suggested that some segments of the population viewed Jews as an alien group and extended broader negative attitudes toward perceived difference in terms of origin and religion. With regard to opinions on the Middle East, both Israel and Palestine were viewed unfavorably by a majority of respondents, although 67.2 percent assigned responsibility for the conflict to both sides to some degree. At the same time, survey results showed broad recognition of the legitimacy of the State of Israel. [35]
Some commentators have argued that antisemitism in Spain is rooted in historical patterns of religious and ethnic homogeneity, shaped by a longstanding emphasis on Catholic identity and the notion of an internal enemy undermining the traditional social order. [24] [38] This interpretation, however, has been challenged by evidence that contemporary Spain is among the most secularized countries in Europe. [39] [40] Only a small minority of Spaniards, approximately 3 percent, identify religion as one of their three most important personal values, and religious affiliation is generally not regarded as a central component of national or personal identity [41]
In the contemporary political landscape, narratives centered on an internal enemy are largely confined to far-right circles and are more commonly directed toward Muslim immigration or Catalan and Basque separatism. In this context, modern forms of antisemitic sentiment in Spain tend to be expressed primarily through criticism of Israel’s policies toward Palestinians and its role in international affairs, rather than through explicitly religious or identity-based frameworks. [42] [43] [24] Jewish scholars have characterized this phenomenon as an “antisemitism without antisemites,” referring to the persistence of antisemitic attitudes and tropes despite their frequent denial or redefinition as political critique. [43]
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Some important elements differentiate the Spanish media from its European counterparts:
During the past decade, historical Catholic antisemitic stereotypes returned in the media when it came to the Middle East coverage. Medieval antisemitic tropes rooted in the religious tradition emerged from time to time in the representation of the Israeli-Arab conflict in the mainstream press. During the years of the Second Intifada and throughout the 2006 Lebanon War, Spanish newspapers and magazines published cartoons in which Israelis, Israel as a whole, or Jewish symbols were linked to the killing of children, themes of vengeance and cruelty, echoing ancient anti-Jewish imagery. Likewise, this merges with newer stereotypes such as charges of sowing disorder, subjugation of others, and the analogies between Israelis and Nazis - sometimes through direct comparisons. [27] [45] For example, on 23 April 2002, at the height of Operation Defensive Shield, the highly satirical magazine El Jueves (Thursday) displayed on its front page a caricature of Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, with a pig's face, a skull cap, a swastika and the caption "This wild animal." [46]
A contemporary example of antisemitism in the Spanish Media is the posting of 17,500 antisemitic tweets following Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.'s win of the EuroLeague on May 18, 2014. Angry Spanish supporters created an expletive antisemitic hashtag in their messages after the match, which briefly became one of the most popular keywords on Twitter in Spain. Twelve Jewish associations filed a judicial complaint after seeing references in some messages to death camps and the mass murder of Jews in the Holocaust. The organizations singled out five people who were identified by their real names on Twitter, accusing them of “incitement to hatred and discrimination” — a crime punishable by up to three years’ jail in Spain. [47]
Modern antisemitic-like attitudes in Spain are mostly related to the perceived abusive policies of the Israel against Palestinians and the State of Palestine and in the international scene [42] [43] [24] and it has been defined by Jewish authors as an "antisemitism without antisemites." [43]
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