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There was never any official and universal pogrom against Jews per se in Spain. Jews were present at all levels of society under the united monarchy. However, given the ethnic and political realities of the time -- which you so conveniently fail to describe in your post -- the Alhambra Decree expelling the Jews (and Muslims) from Spain was entirely just and proper. The rightful Christian rulers of Iberia had just finished winning an 800-year war against the forces of Islam -- a war fought town by town, battle by battle, throughout which the cause of Islam had been helped and financed by the Jewish leaders of Spain. During the war, many Jews who had ostensibly converted to the Christian faith continued to secretly live and practice as Jews, and had formed alliances with the Muslim invaders. By 1492, there was no room in Spain for a Spaniard whose loyalty to Crown and Cross was in question; to be a Spaniard, one had also to be Catholic. Thus the Decree.

Meaning no disrespect, but it is obvious to me that you, like most Americans, have only the sketchiest awareness of history (especially Spanish history). I don't blame you; I blame our educational system, the curriculum of which has been designed and controlled by WASPs to propagandize children against Spain, Catholic Christianity, and all life and thought counter to the WASP worldview. Fortunately, it is possible to educate oneself in the facts of history as it actually happened. To that end, I recommend to you William Thomas Walsh's excellent book Characters of the Inquisition (MacMillan, New York, 1940). An inexpensive paperback edition (1987, ISBN 0-89555-326-0) is available from TAN Books and Publishers.

Don't worry, Jewbacca. They'll permit a few Jews to stick around as merchants and moneylenders so they'll have someone without any legal defense to squeeze money from when the monarchy's coffers are empty.

Those medieval kingdoms -- bastions of liberty for gentile and jew alike, don't ya know./SARC