Spanish king honours Jews exiled five centuries ago

MADRID: Spain’s King Felipe VI on Monday honoured Sephardic Jews who were banished more than five centuries ago during the Inquisition, after a law allowing dual citizenship for their descendants came into force.
The legislation aims to correct what the Spanish government calls the "historic mistake" of the country’s monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand who in 1492 ordered Jews to convert to Catholicism or leave within the space of just weeks, under pain of death.
"Dear Sephardim, thank you for your loyalty," the king told representatives of Sephardic Jews from different countries, at the royal palace.
"Thank you for having kept like a precious treasure your language and your customs that are ours too. Thank you too for making love prevail over rancour and for teaching your children to love this country. "How we have missed you."
There are an estimated 3.5 million Jews with Spanish ancestry around the world -- known as Sephardic Jews.
The law, which came into force last month, grants them dual citizenship. Applicants do not have to be practising Jews but they must have their ancestry vetted by Jewish authorities and prove a "special connection" to and knowledge of Spain.