In this mailing:
- Soeren Kern: Spain: Law on Citizenship for Sephardic Jews Ends in Failure
- Alan M. Dershowitz: After Epstein's Death, Time for Full Justice
by Soeren Kern • August 19, 2019 at 5:00 am
The legislation's main barriers to Spanish citizenship have been obligatory exams on Spanish language and socio-cultural history, the need to travel to Spain and exorbitant fees and costs — all without any guarantee of success.
"We want to express our disappointment because this law, which was supposed to restore justice, has become increasingly complicated. If we observe the procedures, the prerequisites, the number of documents to be submitted, the certified translations, the fees, the language and culture exams and the need to travel to Spain, we cannot but wonder about the reason for all of these hurdles." — Jon Iñarritu García, a congressman representing the Basque Country.
Although official data on the number of Sephardic Jews who will have obtained Spanish citizenship under the 2015 law will not be available until all applications are processed... initial indications show that the law has failed to "right a wrong."
Spain today has one of the smallest Jewish communities in the EU. Fewer than 50,000 Jews currently live in Spain -- a fraction of the number who lived in the country before 1492, when they were forced to convert to Catholicism or leave the country. Pictured: The "El Transito" Synagogue in Toledo, Spain, which was dedicated in 1357. When the Jews were expelled in 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella gave the building to the Church. (Image source: Selbymay/Wikimedia Commons)
A piece of much-heralded legislation to grant Spanish citizenship to up to 3.5 million descendants of Jews expelled from the country in 1492 is about to end in failure: fewer than 10,000 Jews have been awarded Spanish passports ahead of an October 1, 2019 deadline.
Spanish leaders promised that the law — which entered into force on October 1, 2015 for a period of three years and was extended for one additional year — would "right a historic wrong" and demonstrate that more than 500 years after the Inquisition began, Jews are once again welcome in Spain.
The legislation, however, introduced so many cumbersome bureaucratic hurdles to obtain Spanish citizenship that most prospective hopefuls appear to have been deterred from even initiating the application process.
by Alan M. Dershowitz • August 19, 2019 at 4:00 am
Let me be clear: I never met Virginia Giuffre, who is now 36 years old. There is documented evidence that until she met her lawyers in 2014, Giuffre never accused me.... In one email, a well-known journalist urged her to include my name because of my fame, writing that although there is "no proof " that Dershowitz had sex with you, he is a "good name for your pitch." Giuffre then included me, but as someone who she met and did not have sex with.
And later, after meeting her lawyers who are seeking millions of dollars of compensation, she suddenly "remembered" having had sex with me in seven different locations, despite incontrovertible documentary evidence that I could not have been at those locations during the relevant time periods. The bottom line: There is not a scintilla of evidence corroborating Giuffre's accusations against me.
Here is the truth: Secret Service and other records prove that the Gores and [Bill] Clinton were never on Epstein's island. She vividly remembered spending her "sweet 16" birthday celebration with Epstein, but her employment records prove – and she now concedes – that she didn't meet Epstein until a year after she turned 16. This means she was above the age of consent at the time she claimed to have had sex with Epstein's friends. It is not just me, the Gores and Bill Clinton that Giuffre falsely accused.
The time has come to investigate Giuffre's claims. Months ago, I published and op-ed asking the FBI to investigate me, as well as my accuser and her lawyers... Lying under oath is a crime. I want both of our accounts fully investigated and the person not telling the truth to be prosecuted. I believe that false accusations of sexual misconduct, deliberately made to obtain money, is a serious crime.
Alan Dershowitz. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images for Hulu)
For nearly five years, I and my family have been victims of a premeditated, financially motivated effort to destroy me personally and professionally.
I believe if the authorities investigated the matter, they would conclude I was a victim of a serious crime. The suicide of Jeffrey Epstein last weekend has again raised the scandal involving him to national headlines.
One of Epstein's accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has accused me of having sex with her when she was below the age of consent.
It is a false accusation, demonstrably so as more documented evidence has emerged that indicates the claims against me were suggested by others who stood to benefit financially by accusing me.
Let me be clear: I never met Virginia Giuffre, who is now 36 years old.
There is documented evidence that until she met her lawyers in 2014, Giuffre never accused me.
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