The Diplomat
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, met yesterday in Madrid with a delegation of leaders of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), to whom they expressed Spain’s “commitment to the fight against anti-Semitism”.
The delegation is currently on a visit to Spain, jointly organized by Centro Sefarad-Israel and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, with the aim of discussing with representatives of the Spanish administration (at different levels) the main challenges and opportunities for Spain after the COVID pandemic, the state of bilateral relations between our country and the United States, Israel and the Jewish world, Spain’s perspective on the war in Ukraine and the repercussions of this conflict for Europe and the rest of the world.
Founded in 1906 in New York, AJC is currently considered the most important Jewish organization in the world in terms of global diplomacy. It has 24 offices in the United States and 13 around the world, including Paris, Brussels and Berlin.
The members of the delegation were received at noon by José Manuel Albares at the ministerial headquarters the Palacio de Viana. “Today I met with the American Jewish Committee to continue boosting our bond and collaboration,” the minister stated via his Twitter account. “Spain maintains strong historical and cultural ties with the Jewish community and a firm commitment to the fight against anti-Semitism,” he added.
Later, the AJC representatives were received at the Moncloa Complex by Pedro Sánchez, who reiterated “the Government’s commitment to the fight against anti-Semitism and for peace in the world” and claimed “with pride” Spain’s Jewish heritage and the deep historical ties that our country maintains with the US and with the Jewish people. “The AJC had the privilege of meeting with Spanish President Pedro Sanchez to discuss shared interests, such as the fight against anti-Semitism, the war in Ukraine and relations between Spain, the US, Israel and Latin America,” the Committee reported via Twitter.
According to Moncloa, Spanish is “a language shared by the Sephardic community -ladino- and the language of some 70 million Spanish speakers in the United States”. In addition, he continued, Spain has intensified in recent years its work to strengthen the “deep bonds of union with the Jewish world, a task in which the Centro Sefarad Israel plays a very important role”. Moncloa also recalled that the Executive “has adapted and implemented legislation to grant Spanish citizenship to Sephardic Jews, who can recover their rightful place in Spain, preserving their ties with Israel, the United States or other countries”, and that Spain pays homage to the victims of the Holocaust on January 27 of each year and “has adopted the definition of ‘anti-Semitism’ of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and has trained thousands of teachers in schools throughout Spain in this paradigm”.
The American Jewish Committee delegation was also received by the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who informed during the meeting that her government had promoted a Regional Strategy to Combat Anti-Semitism and last week presented a proposal to the plenary of the European Committee of the Regions for the European Strategy to incorporate a broader definition of anti-Semitism.
The delegation – which has also scheduled several meetings with the president of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijoo; the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida; and the ambassador of the United States, Julissa Reynoso – will present the Gesher Award to King Philip VI today at the Zarzuela Palace. This award, whose name means ‘bridge’ in Hebrew, recognizes individuals and institutions that have stood out for their solidarity with the Jewish communities in Latin American countries and in the improvement of relations between the United States, Latin America and Israel. The award was granted to Philip VI in 2019 for his role in fostering relations between Spain and Latin America, especially highlighting his involvement in the signing of the Law of Nationality for Sephardim, which had an important impact on the American continent.
