Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem Condemn Israel's Genocide In Gaza

Actress Penelope Cruz and her actor hubby Javier Bardem, along with film director Pedro Almodovar and several other Spanish entertainment names, have signed an 'open letter' protesting Israel's incursion into Gaza, calling it "genocide."  Calling what is happening in Gaza 'genocide' is as ignorant as calling Israel an apartheid state, neither of which are true, but they're actors, after all, ruled more by emotion than intellect.

The actors demanded a stronger response by the European Union to stop the military operation that has so far killed more than 1,200 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Civilians, including many children, have made up the majority of those killed in the offensive that Israel says is necessary to stop Hamas firing rockets at its cities.

The letter, printed by Europa Press and other Spanish news outlets, reads: "Gaza is living through horror these days, besieged and attacked by land, sea and air.

"Palestinians' homes are being destroyed, they are being denied water, electricity [and] free movement to their hospitals, schools and fields while the international community does nothing."

Of course, no cognizance or acknowledgment of the fact that Hamas flagrantly uses Gazans as human shields, or that Hamas actually encouraged Gazan citizens to ignore the  IDF's warnings to evacuate the area, leading to more casualties than might have occurred had they fled.

Labelling the Israeli military the "Israel Occupation Forces", it demanded an immediate ceasefire and urged Israel to "lift the blockade, which the Gaza Strip has suffered for more than a decade".

It blamed the latest hostilities on Israel’s advancement into Palestinian territories instead of observing the 1967 borders pre-dating the Six-Day War.

The latest hostilities are a result of a non-stop bombardment of rockets launched by Hamas into Israeli territory. And demanding the lifting of the blockade? How come they don't demand Egypt do the same thing? And the Israelis would be idiots to do that considering Hamas wants to annihilate Israel, it says as much in the Charter.

Others who signed their names to the letter were some lesser known actors and musicians:

Benito Zambrano, actors Lola Herrera, Eduardo Noriega and Rosa Maria Sarda and two musicians, Amaral and Nacho Campillo.

Source: Independent UK

Spanish Pedophile Rapist That Morocco Released Is Back In Jail In Spain

Daniel Galvin Mina, who was unexpectedly pardoned and released by Morocco's King, even though he raped 11 children, is back in jail after he was re-arrested thanks to Interpol.

Spain had requested the pardon of 18 Spaniards, and the transfer of Vina- along with 29 other criminals- to spend the rest of their sentences in Spain. Vina had been given a 30 year sentence. Somehow Morocco messed up and released them all.

No-one knows where the 29 others are.

Video report here.

5 Tunisians Arrested In Spain For Spreading Jihadist Propaganda

Operation "Kartago" netted 5 Tunisian jihadists who were arrested in Barcelona, Spain for distributing and  spreading jihadist propaganda via the Internet.

The men had been under surveillance for a year, and were arrested because they were radicalizing.

The operation is ongoing.

Go get 'em, hermanos.

Spain Wants Descendants of Inquisition Jews Back- From Citizenship to the First Seder In 500 years

The Spanish Inquisition was one of the dark spots in the history of Christianity when in the late 1400s King Ferdinand and his Queen Isabela gave the Jews of Spain the choice of either converting to Catholicism if they wanted to stay, or being exiled. 200,000 or so Jews left, the ones who stayed converted, although it is thought they still practiced Judaism in secret. The newly converted Christians were called Maranos.

Perhaps Spain is trying to atone for its treatment of the Jews back in the Middle Ages, because it looks like the Spaniards are beginning to embrace the Jews from their past.

First, a town in Spain is set to host an official Passover seder. Apparently, the last one was held centuries ago in 1492 before the non-converted Jews fled Spain that year. This March 25, Ribadavia, a town in South Galicia in Northern Spain, will hold a seder in the old town center, sponsored by the tourism board and the Center for Medieval Studies (CMS) with the honorary president of the CMS, Abraham Haim, conducting the seder. The meal will cost $40.00 per person and anyone can attend, although they are only expecting a few dozen. It seems Ribadavia is trying to ramp up tourism to the city by establishing an interest in its Jewish past.

But more importantly, Spain is offering citizenship to any descendants of Sephardic Jews who can prove it.

Spain’s Justice Minister, Alberto Ruizo-Gallardon, announced the offer to descendants of Spain’s former Jews in November at a Jewish center in Madrid.

“In the long journey Spain has undertaken to rediscover a part of herself, few occasions are as moving as today,” he said. “The measure we’re announcing will let anyone who can prove their Sephardic origins obtain Spanish nationality.”

Currently, there are only approximately 40,000 Jews in Spain but the offer has prompted quite a lot of global interest. According to the head of the Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities:

“I can tell you that in less than a month we have received about 6,000 inquiries, among which I would highlight one from an American member of Congress.” 

No word on who. But NY Times Paris reporter Doreen Carvajal is also interested since she discovered she had Sephardic roots.

“My initial reaction was that it was a really thrilling moment,” Carvajal said. “That it was an act of justice. They held this news conference with top ministers to offer automatic citizenship to descendents [sic] of all Sephardic Jews who left during inquisition. Point blank done. 363 It was a romantic notion on my part. I told my husband, I think I’m going to try and get the passport because it closes a circle. It was very poetic." [snip]

But Carvajal says that when she contacted Spain’s Jewish Federation, she learned she didn’t qualify. Not yet anyway.

Part of Carvajal’s family was Sephardic Jew. But when they left Spain for Costa Rica, they converted to Catholicism, at least officially, out of fear of Spanish Inquisitors. The Inquisition hunted down and persecuted Jews even in the far-off Spanish colonies.

So, Carvajal is technically the descendent [sic] of converts or, conversos. She’s not a practicing Jew herself. She says she was told she’d have to convert to become Spanish.

“I felt like another it was act of being forced,” she said. “Here are [the] these people, the descendents [sic] of the anousim, the forced ones, the conversos, being told you have to do this, you have to be a certain religion? So what happens if you’re a secular Jew? It was a bittersweet moment for me when I realized there were a lot of clauses there and it really wasn’t an automatic offer for everyone.”

Some people, including Carvajal, seem to think the offer is possibly a means of trying to infuse Jewish wealth into a failing Spanish economy. I have to admit I thought the same thing. Historian Maria Josep Estanyol says the Spanish economy tanked after the Jews left in 1492.

Many Iberian Jews were wealthy textile traders and jewelers and bankers.

“At the time of the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan was said to have commented that he couldn’t understand why a great Spanish king like Ferdinand would go without the Jews, who were such a source of wealth, and just give them to him. The Sultan was very pleased to receive these Jewish families, who went on to enrich his empire,” Estanyol said.

Yet others wonder if it might be a peace offer after Spain helped get Palestine U.N. recognition as a state. Maybe it's a little of both.

But Muslims, who were also later expelled from Spain, are balking at the "unfairness" of not having citizenship extended to them.  According to TheWorld.org:

"...some Muslim scholars are denouncing the offer as unfair. They point out that their ancestors were expelled from Iberia too, just a few years after the Jews. But no one’s inviting them back."

They might think it's unfair, but do they not realize why they might have the same invitation extended to them.

Palestinians Say 'No Way' To Joint Peace Soccer Match With Israel

A Spanish soccer club suggested a peace match whereby Israeli and Palestinian players would play together against Barcelona in a July soccer game in Tel Aviv.  The Palestinians said no way.

“I totally refuse a joint Israeli-Palestinian soccer game, because this means that we are normalizing with our enemies in Israel, and it is not just me who refuses this, all the Palestinian people do,” said Muhammad Siksik, a Palestinian resident in Gaza. “The reason for our [rejection] is because the Palestinian cause cannot be politicised through a sport game with Barcelona. I, as a Barcelona fan, refuse this proposal,” added another Gaza resident, Jawdat Ashour.

[snip]

The head of the Palestinian Football Association in Ramallah, Jibril Rajoub, said there were many obstacles standing in the way of the proposed game.

“For us sport is a tool for spreading love, stability and co-operation with all the world. But the possibility of playing a soccer game with Israeli participants in the absence of Israeli recognition of a national Palestinian sporting body, in accordance with the Olympic charter, and in the absence of recognizing the right of the Palestinian sporting body to practice sport, I think without achieving all this, playing this game will not be possible,” Rajoub told Reuters Television.

Full article here.

If they can't even entertain the idea of a 'peace' match, there's no way in hell there ever will be peace between Israel and Palestine.

Supreme Court Overturns Spanish City's Ban On Burqas

Lleida (aka Lérida), in Catalonia, Spain, is approximately 20% Muslim. It's the same city that in 2011 was having a problem with dogs turning up poisoned.  Lérida was also the first town in Spain to ban the full face veil (burqa and niqab) in public buildings, in 2010. But only a few short years later, the ban was just reversed by Spain's Supreme Court:

.... citing religious freedom and saying the city’s argument of security concerns was unfounded.

In its ruling, dated Feb. 14 and made public on Thursday, the court said the ban could increase discrimination, rather than help eliminate it, as it may force some women to stay at home and therefore not integrate at all into Spanish society.

The city, known as Lleida in the Catalan language and Lerida in Spanish, had argued that immigrants would struggle to integrate if they used the veil. The city also said the custom would disturb the local culture and create security problems.

The Watani Liberty and Justice Association has been lobbying for 3 years to lift the ban, and it looks like they finally prevailed.

I have said this many times, but there is no place for the full face veil in Western lands. Women who wear burqas or niqabs aren't about to integrate into Western society anyway.  And according to some religious authorities in the Muslim world, the veil is not even a necessity.  Saudi cleric Sheikh Ahmed Bin Qassim al-Ghamdi claims woman need not cover the face or arms, and an Al-Azhar scholar, Sheikh Mustapha Mohamed Rashedat, actually said the hijab is not an Islamic duty since it's not even mentioned in the Quran.

Spanish Imam Who Called On Muslim Men To Beat Their Wives Under Investigation

There are obviously some rather evolved members of a mosque in Terrassa, Spain,  because after the local imam encouraged the congregants to "discipline" misbehaving wives through 'physical and psychological violence',  the police are now investigating this unnamed Muslim cleric.

According to police, the imam is under investigation for

“disseminating discriminatory messages and violating the principle of equality and of women’s right to physical and moral integrity."

Apparently, he instructed men on the best way to punish their spouses and

“ provided concrete examples of the manner in which wives should be beaten, how to isolate them inside the family home and how to deny them sexual relations.”

I'd be surprised if the imam received anything more than a reprimand, but at least there are some in that community who aren't buying into the 'it says you should beat your wife in the Quran, so it's okay' mentality, and reporting it to the authorities.

This isn't the first controversy, however, regarding Muslims in that country. Catalonia, where Terrassa is located, has had other troubles with its large Muslim immigrant population.  The last controversy was in Lerida, where dogs were turning up poisoned, and in 2010 an imam was charged for harassing a woman for not wearing a veil.

UPDATE 3/7

Moroccan, Abdeslam Laaroussi, was arrested for promoting violence against women.

According to police, Laaroussi told his followers that it was best to punch women or use a stick on different parts of their bodies "without breaking their bones or making them bleed".

The Catalan police force, subpoenaed the man to give a statement, after complaints were filed that he was trying to encourage gender violence.

While he refused to give a statement, he was charged after investigators found that his speeches and sermons contained elements that promote violence and discrimination.

Way to go, Catalonia! Some jail time will do the oaf some good.

Update- H/T Islam in Europe

Spain's Conservative Popular Party Poised To Win Election

After 8 years of being governed by Socialists, it looks like the disillusioned Spaniards are finally aware of their folly, and will be voting for the conservative Popular Party (PP) at the polls tomorrow.  Expected to win the plum role of Prime Minister is 56-year-old Mariano Rajoy. His won't be an easy job, however, with a country on the brink, like so many other European nations, and the highest rate of unemployment in the European Union at a whopping 22 percent.

The PP is expected to win a majority which is

...deemed necessary to push through a new round of austerity measures and job-creation incentives intended to cut the public deficit while creating economic growth.

Rajoy is not promising that things will be easy:

In his final rally on Friday evening, Mr Rajoy warned that the road ahead would be difficult.

"We are not fooling ourselves, we're not going to sort everything out from one day to the other," he told thousands of blue-flag waving supporters in traditionally PP-supporting Madrid.

"We Spaniards know that it will take a lot of effort to get things done, and there is more effort ahead to take Spain forward. We know that nothing is free."

But after 8 years of economic stagnation under the Socialists, the Spanish people are banking on a man who was second in command under Jose Maria Aznar's leadership,  a time when the country's economy was booming. 

The Socialists had 8 years to prove their form of government works- they failed miserably.  Hopefully, the U.S. people will take note and vote conservative in 2012.

Basque Terrorist Group ETA Calls For A Cease-Fire

ETA- the socialist Basque separatist-cum-terrorist group that has been terrorizing northern Spain and southern France for the past 40 years- has declared that they will finally cease blowing people up. Or so they say.  Apparently they were inspired to do so after the recent International Peace Conference held in Basque country. Headlined by former U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan and a bunch of Irish delegates who are more than well equipped to offer their advice, the ETA was encouraged 

"to make a public declaration of the definitive cessation of all armed action and to request talks with the governments of Spain and France to address exclusively the consequences of the conflict".

They also "urged" the French and Spanish governments to "welcome" such talks "to deal with the consequences of the conflict", if ETA decided to comply.


Missing from the conference, however, was the Spanish government and the main conservative opposition Popular Party, both of which believe another ceasefire is not enough and that ETA should simply lay down their arms and be done with it.


Apparently ETA did take all that advice to heart and on Thursday October 20, several members (masked and dressed in black) made a statement declaring ETA had ceased all its 'armed activity' and that it

".. calls upon the Spanish and French governments to open a process of direct dialogue with the aim of addressing the resolution of the consequences of the conflict and, thus, to overcome the armed confrontation. Thorough this historical declaration, Eta shows its clear, solid and definitive commitment."

Long live the free Euskal Herria! Long live Basque socialism! No rest until independence and socialism!

ETA was responsible for over 800 deaths over 4 decades, including well over 300 civilians, of course that number pales in comparison to the over 17,800 Islamist terrorist attacks since 9/11.

Read ETA's full statement here.

Sources: eitb, GuardianUK, NY Times, For now, that is. As with most terrorist groups, when demands are not met, cease-fires are broken, as ETA has done in the past.  And they do have demands, including their continued aim for Basque independence, as evidencced in the last few sentences of their 'cease-fire statement':

Muslims Target Dogs In Spain

Dogs, what Westerners consider to be 'man's best friend', are anathema to Muslims. They believe them to be 'unclean'.   We've all read the stories about cab drivers in Western countries refusing to pick up blind people with 'seeing-eye' dogs.  But in Spain,  their hatred of dogs is resulting in puppycide- poor pups are actually being exterminated. 

In the city of  Lérida, (north eastern Catalonia) with a Muslim immigrant population of 20 percent, dogs have been turning up poisoned (at least a dozen in September), and one can only assume who the culprits are. Local non-Muslims claim they are being harassed while walking their dogs. And since the police have not done much to prevent harassment, the locals themselves have set up a 6-person escort system.

In July, two Islamic groups based in Lérida asked city officials to regulate the presence of dogs in public spaces so they do not "offend Muslims." Muslims are demanding that dogs be banned from all forms of public transportation including all city buses as well as from all areas frequented by Muslim immigrants.


Muslims in Lérida say the presence of dogs violates their religious freedom and their right to live according to Islamic principles.

 

Violates their rights?  What about the rights of the people who were living there first to own a dog!  But, that's the problem, at least according to Muslims. 

 

Much of Spain was ruled by Muslim conquerors from 711 and 1492; Salafists believe that the territories the Muslims lost during the Spanish Reconquista still belong to them, and that they have a right to return and establish their rule there – a belief based on the Islamic precept that territories once occupied by Muslims must forever remain under Muslim domination.

Much of the troubles Catalonia is currently encountering, including- forced marriages, genital mutilation, implementation of Sharia law and other abominations-  is a direct result of their efforts to separate from Spain.

In an effort to promote the Catalan language, Catalonian pro-independence parties have traditionally favored immigration from non-Spanish-speaking countries, especially from Arabic-speaking Muslim countries, in the belief that these people would speak Catalan rather than Spanish.

Unfortunately, it hasn't worked, and now they are left with an ever burgeoning Muslim population that  not only refuses to assimilate, it wants control over the whole region. 

Read the whole story here, it's pretty harrowing.

H/T Islam In Europe