“On 2 October, the Minister of Justice favourably dispatched three processes relating to Portuguese nationality based upon the supplicants having descended from Sephardic Jews, with their registration now awaited by the Central Records Conservatory,” a spokesperson told Lusa.
In turn, Michael Rothwell, a delegate of the CIP – the Israeli Community of Porto, one of two entities able to grant recognition that descendants do actually hold such ancestry, said that “hundreds” of such certificates had thus far been issued.
Rothwell said that the certificates stemmed from objective bonds of belonging to the country alongside genealogy and family memories with the majority of requests coming from Turkey but also from Israel and the United States with many requests arising “out of a question of emotional attachment.”
According to the community representative, the granting of citizenship to Sephardic Jews “finally provides justice,” “at a time when Jews are experiencing difficulties in Europe,” their descendants who had to leave Portugal five centuries ago may “now find a safe refuge here.”
Rothwell pointed out that the citizenship approval came on the same day as Spain granted its first passports to such citizens and many Portuguese “know that they have Jewish blood in them.”