The government of the Democratic Alliance has just sent a proposal to parliament that aims to definitively end the legislation that grants the right of citizenship to Jews of Portuguese Sephardic origin, even if in the last years so many changes were made to that legislation that it was almost dead in practical terms. The likely approval of the law by parliament, and the regulations that the government will promote, will bring about the expected outcome of the "Palestinian question" initiated five years earlier by the socialist government and the communist parties. The anachronistic Communist Portuguese Party applauds the government of the Democratic Alliance, while keeping the flag of the Soviet Union at its headquarters and articles about the abject "protocols of the elders of Zion" in its official newspaper.

The political left continues to claim that the Jews are to blame for the immigration problems, as if they walked the streets robbing people and lifting machetes, and had no connection with Portugal. In the meantime, the ongoing Gaza hostage crisis included thirty people with Portuguese citizenship who belonged to traditional Sephardic families of the Mediterranean and the former Ottoman Empire, with records in several “Kahal Kadosh Portugal” and in "Spanish&Portuguese" congregations around the world. This was the standard of applicants for citizenship for so many years.

In a country created by Catholics and Jews, who made it a world power, Sephardic Jews were granted the right to citizenship a decade ago, even if they did not live in the country or speak Portuguese. This legal precedent has existed since the former regime for all the communities of Portuguese origin. From the beginning, it was known that the largest Sephardic community in the world was found in Israel and that as a result of centuries of marriages between Jews from different countries, there are Jews of Portuguese origin on all continents, from Asia to Oceania.

The legislators' 2015 objective was to reconnect Portugal with Jews of Portuguese origin and create Jewish life in a country whose Jewish community did not exceed three hundred assimilated people and was inactive. However, since the beginning, many have made the ill-intentioned mistake of calling the legislation a "historical reparation".

The growth of the Jewish community of Portugal in the last decade did not arouse interest on the part of the media or political elites. One would think that the establishment of the largest Chabad Center in Europe, or the growth of the largest community, with synagogues and museums, would be a cause for rejoicing. But they never have been. There was always a neglect of everything positive, and a defamatory game based on persecutory schemes including nocturnal thieves, incitement of the popular masses and anonymous complaints.

The legislation that has been in effect for a decade has never had a peaceful course. As soon as Jews achieved prominence, social media pages were filled with antisemitic comments. The Jewish community warned the government of this, but nothing was done. There were popular demonstrations against Jewish projects such as the synagogues and museums. Politicians and newspaper editors engaged in a campaign against the influx of Israelis and advertising regarding Portuguese citizenship in Israel, without any concern that everything was discovered and shared around the world. This irresponsibility led to a social environment that was difficult for Jews to bear. Demonstrations for better housing included protest signs against the "Zionist capitalists" associated with "the Boavista neighbourhood". The names of Israeli businessmen and their companies were published in political newspapers. There was a plan to poison Israelis at a music festival in Idanha-a-Nova. The country's largest synagogue was invaded by the police who brandished anonymous complaints against a French Jew and a father of Lithuanian children by his own right. Both had proven the Sephardic origin of their family names to the Portuguese Jewish communities, both had limited themselves to paying the symbolic fees that were due, but both made Portugal go down in history again for the worst reasons.

In Spain, similar legislation also ended up tainted with defamation and suspicions that never materialized. In the country of Sanchez and the Borrells, we have also witnessed political, media and judicial elites fiercely united against the legislation, and the alleged illicit schemes that were surrounding it. The word ‘money’ constantly appeared in the debate and delighted the newspapers, but to date the so-called authorities have not been able to find or document a single fraudulent case.

The principles of national interest and the separation of powers is increasingly distant from the functioning of states and in certain cases has become a mere anecdote, as has been seen in Spain. Now that the world is facing a crossroads in history and Portugal is preparing to celebrate 900 years of history, the problem of the waves of immigration in Sepharad has returned to being a Jewish problem.

A recent film released by the Jewish community of Porto and the Spanish-Jewish Foundation of Madrid could have been called "Operation Open Door I", because it refers to the way in which 120,000 Spanish Sephardim were treated in Portugal.