After midnight at the second birthday party of the trendy Jerusalem bar, Mitteh, a bunch of drunken 20-somethings are kidding around. The subject of their mirth is the new Spanish law guaranteeing citizenship to any descendant of Jews who were expelled during the Spanish Inquisition.
Across the street, at a bar frequented by an older clientele, a Spanish consular official puts his head in his hands and decries the “oncoming onslaught” of citizenship requests he anticipates.
“Ok, it’s the right thing,” he says, “but it is going to be out of control.”
For now, the bill, which is supported by the government and is expected to pass through parliament, has relatively lax standards for proving Spanish ancestry, including a note from a rabbi, a Sephardic surname, or knowledge of Spanish. Portugal followed suit with a law introduced two days later.
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