Recently in Spain Category

Muhammad, the supreme example of human conduct according to Qur'an 33:21, didn't like dogs and ordered their killing:

"Once Gabriel promised the Prophet (that he would visit him, but Gabriel did not come) and later on he said, 'We, angels, do not enter a house which contains a picture or a dog.'" -- Sahih Bukhari 4.54.50

"Abdullah (b. Umar) (Allah be pleased with them) reported: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) ordered the killing of dogs and we would send (men) in Medina and its corners and we did not spare any dog that we did not kill, so much so that we killed the dog that accompanied the wet she-camel belonging to the people of the desert." -- Sahih Muslim 10.3811

Black dogs ruin your prayers:

"Abu Dharr reported: The Messenger of 'Allah (may peace be upon him) said: When any one of you stands for prayer and there is a thing before him equal to the back of the saddle that covers him and in case there is not before him (a thing) equal to the back of the saddle, his prayer would be cut off by (passing of an) ass, woman, and black Dog. I said: O Abu Dharr, what feature is there in a black dog which distinguish it from the red dog and the yellow dog? He said: O, son of my brother, I asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) as you are asking me, and he said: The black dog is a devil." - Sahih Muslim 4.1032

And here we are. Also noteworthy in this story is that Catalonia now has self-styled "religious police." "Muslims in Spain Declare Jihad on Dogs," by Soeren Kern for Hudson NY, October 6 (thanks to DC Watson):

Spanish authorities are investigating the recent deaths by poisoning of more than a dozen dogs in Lérida, a city in the northeastern region of Catalonia that has become ground zero in an intensifying debate over the role of Islam in Spain.

Local media reports linked at the original:

All of the dogs were poisoned in September [...] in Lérida's working class neighbourhoods of Cappont and La Bordeta, districts that are heavily populated by Muslim immigrants and where many dogs have been killed in recent years.

Local residents say Muslim immigrants killed the dogs because according to Islamic teaching dogs are "unclean" animals.

Over the past several months, residents taking their dogs for walks have been harassed by Muslim immigrants opposed to seeing the animals in public. Muslims have also launched a number of anti-dog campaigns on Islamic websites and blogs based in Spain.

In response to the "lack of sufficient police to protect the neighbourhood," 50 local residents have established alternating six-person citizen patrols to escort people walking their dogs.

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.

Dogs are not the only Islam-related controversy in Lérida, where 29,000 Muslims now make up around 20 percent of the city's total population.

In December 2010, Lérida became the first municipality in Spain to ban the burqa head covering in all public spaces. Women found violating the ban will be fined up to €600 ($750). One day before the ban took effect, the Catalonian Supreme Court turned down an appeal from the Watani Association for Freedom and Justice, a local Muslim group, which had argued that the ban constitutes religious discrimination.

In September 2010, Watani president Mourad El-Boudouhi submitted a letter to the Lérida city council in which he asked the mayor to provide him with free land so that he can build a mosque in downtown Lérida. The mosque would be financed by Morocco.

The Moroccan mosque would compete with another mosque project in Lérida that is being financed by Saudi Arabia. The imam at the Saudi mosque is Abdelwahab Houzi, a Salafi jihadist preacher who adheres to the radical Wahhabi sect of Islam.

Salafism is a branch of revivalist Islam that calls for restoring past Muslim glory by forcibly establishing a universal Islamic empire (Caliphate) across the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Europe such as Spain, which Salafists view as a Muslim state that must be re-conquered for Islam.

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.

The Salafist Houzi has called on Muslims who are eligible to vote in Spain to support Catalan separatist parties as a means to firmly establish Islamism in Catalonia.

"Muslims should vote for pro-independence parties, as they need our votes. But what they do not know is that, when they allow us to vote, we will all vote for Islamic parties because we do not believe in left and right. This will make us win local councils and as we begin to accumulate power in the Catalan autonomous region, Islam will begin to be implemented," Houzi said.

The Catalan independence movement supports the independence of Catalonia from Spain. Catalan separatism is based on the idea that Catalonia is a nation with its own unique history, culture and language.

Own-goal:

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.

They might get independence at some point, but at the expense of Catalonia as they knew it.

The end result of this decades-old policy is that Catalonia is now home to a huge concentration of hard-line Islamist groups including Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami and the Salafists.

Salafi preachers in Catalonia do not believe in democracy and teach that Islamic Sharia law is above Spanish civil law. They also promote the establishment of a parallel Muslim society in Spain.

Salafi imams have set up Sharia tribunals in Catalonia to judge the conduct of both practicing and non-practicing Muslims in Spain. They also deploy Islamic "religious police" in Lérida and other Catalan municipalities to monitor and punish Muslims who do not comply....

In August, France's top counter-terror judge opined: "It's been shown that AQIM is only able to strike in its own zone, by wanting to kill tourists — and we have seen nothing emerge as a significant foreign operation in Europe that was really organized by AQIM." But U.S. General Carter Ham and other European authorities disagree, warning of a pan-African jihadist network that will be better equipped and connected to carry out attacks across the Mediterranean as well as on the African continent.

The presence of financiers is a foot in the door. "Police in Spain arrest 5 suspected of financing terrorists," by Al Goodman for CNN, September 27 (thanks to Alexandre):

Madrid, Spain (CNN) -- Civil Guards arrested five Algerian men early Tuesday in northern Spain on suspicion of providing logistical and financial support for Islamic terrorist activities, Spain's interior ministry said.

The suspects, aged 36 to 49, allegedly supported "terrorist groups that operate in the Algerian area of the Maghreb, specifically for al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb," a ministry statement said.

They also had suspected links to Islamic militants in Italy, France and Switzerland.

Some 150 Civil Guards took part in the operation, making nearly simultaneous arrests and conducting searches of homes and premises linked to the suspects in two towns of northern Guipuzcoa province and two others in neighboring Navarra province, the statement said.

Computer hardware and software was seized and will be analyzed. Spain's National Court, which handles cases of terrorism, is supervising the operation, the statement said.

Spanish authorities have said repeatedly in the past few years that the group known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is of key concern, because of its operational base in northern Africa, just across the Mediterranean Sea from Spain and southern Europe.

Last week, Civil Guards arrested a Cuban man on Spain's Mallorca Island in the Mediterranean for allegedly recruiting and indoctrinating others for Islamic terrorist activities.

A judge released the suspect from custody Friday, but he must report daily to police while authorities investigate computer documentation seized when he was detained.

Since the Madrid train bombings of 2004 that killed 191 people and wounded 1,800 others, Spanish police have arrested more than 400 suspected al Qaeda militants or collaborators, the Interior Ministry website says. Most have been of North African or Middle Eastern origin, with a few from Latin America.

The Spanish ambassador said the statements by the foreign minister, Trinidad Jimenez, were "taken out of context." Jimenez had said that "there's the feeling that now is the time to do something, to give the Palestinians the hope that a state could become reality ... We have to give them some signal, because if we don't it could generate great frustration for the Palestinian people."

Again, "hope" does not make a governable state, and policy-making geared toward speculation on people's emotions is presumptuous and ultimately a gamble, hoping for hope.

The new Spanish stance is that the country's support depends on the nature of the Palestinian request. They are still unwilling, unlike their former prime minister, to say "no" outright. "Jerusalem rebukes Spanish envoy over PA statement," by Ronen Medzini for YNet News, August 22:

The Foreign Ministry summoned Spain's ambassador to Israel on Monday, following a statement by Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez suggesting that Madrid will support the Palestinian Authority UN bid for statehood in September.

Naor Gilon, head of the Foreign Ministry's European Division, expressed disappointment in Jimenez's statement, saying Madrid's stance was surprising "especially given the excellent bilateral relations between the two nations."

Spanish Ambassador Alvaro Iranzo explained that Foreign Minister Jimenez' statements were taken somewhat out of context, adding that Spain's position on the matter was contingent on both the EU's stance and the phrasing of the Palestinians' request.

Iranzo stressed that Madrid would not be able to support the PA's bid unless it was "phrased in a balanced way and addresses the need the resume negotiations between the parties, and maintain Israel's security. Without these parameters, Spain will not be able to support the request."...

There is also the matter of the PA's reconciliation with Hamas, which makes no secret of its intentions to destroy Israel. The PA cannot commit to "maintain Israel's security" and commit to share governance with Hamas.

Hope doesn't make a governable state. Here again, as with all the blood and treasure squandered on "hearts and minds" in Iraq and Afghanistan (often translating into millions of dollars lost in the wrong hands) we see foreign policy based on wishful thinking and a fixation on other people's "feelings." We have already witnessed the disaster of policy-making that is based at heart on such speculation and the self-congratulating, hubris-laden expectation that the way things "ought" to work out is the way they will work out because the action taken was rooted in good intentions.

The global war on "underlying causes" that we find ourselves in turns a blind eye to the reality that countries and territories are not emotional entities that would straighten up and fly right if they just felt better. It is indeed condescending not to take into account that a given territory's governing entity is as rational, shrewd and calculating as the next one, and has its own agenda to advance.

The PA wants the UN to do its dirty work for it, to be handed a state in an exception to the usual expectations of international law. Speaking of "hope," the PA likely hopes the need to define the new state's borders will set up a UN-mandated land grab on behalf of "Palestine," granting a do-over and reversal of so many lost wars with Israel.

And what the UN gives "Palestine," the PA expects the UN will feel obligated not to allow to fail, even though the entity that would result would be unable to govern itself, and utterly dependent on outside help for material sustenance, and to keep the peace between Palestinian rivals.

"Spain says it supports the Palestinian bid for statehood," from Reuters, August 21:

MADRID - Spain hopes a meeting of European Union foreign ministers on Sept. 2 will bring progress towards the recognition of a Palestinian state, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Trinidad Jimenez said on Sunday.

"There's the feeling that now is the time to do something, to give the Palestinians the hope that a state could become reality," she said in an interview with El Pais newspaper published on Sunday.

"We have to give them some signal, because if we don't it could generate great frustration for the Palestinian people."

The meeting of EU foreign ministers in Sopot, Poland comes ahead of a United Nations General Assembly meeting later in September where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking to upgrade the Palestinians' status, but is unlikely to emerge with full UN membership for his country.

More likely is an upgrade of the Palestinian territories to become a non-member state from its current status as an observer. That would not need Security Council approval and would elevate the Palestinians' UN status to equal that of the Vatican.

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) postponed on Saturday the presentation of findings on the possible repercussions of a Palestinian declaration of statehood at the UN in September.

Mofaz has criticized the government numerous times in recent months, accusing it of being unprepared for the consequences of the expected UN vote.

“If the diplomatic process for September had been significant, most of the army’s preparations would not have been necessary,” he said after IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz briefed the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last month.

"Serious Palestinians know very well that they do not meet the internal and external requirements to become a viable state, much less to become a new UN member-state with all its attendant obligations."

"How not to have a Palestinian state," by José María Aznar for YNet News, July 16:

The unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state, and its international recognition, would be a huge mistake. A peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians is essential, but it can only be achieved through honest negotiations –not by any party imposing a unilateral decision.

Over the past two years, the Palestinian Authority has refused to sit at the negotiating table with the Israeli government, hiding behind the excuse of Israeli construction work on a few West Bank settlements. At the same time, however, it has been negotiating the creation of a national unity government with Hamas, a terrorist group whose stated aim is the elimination of Israel.

A Palestinian “government” of a unilaterally established, self-declared “Palestinian state,” in which Hamas is a member of the governing coalition, will make negotiations, much less a peace agreement, impossible: no negotiation is possible, and no agreement is possible, when one side is committed to the other’s destruction.

US President Barack H. Obama has recently advocated a return to talks based on the pre-1967 lines with mutual land-swaps. But even those lines, as originally delineated in the 1949 Armistice Agreements, were subject to negotiations in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, which both sides agreed at the time would be the basis for a future peace agreement. Any future border, according to these resolutions, must be the outcome of a negotiated agreement.

The unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood is also a clumsily concealed de-legitimization device. Serious Palestinians know very well that they do not meet the internal and external requirements to become a viable state, much less to become a new UN member-state with all its attendant obligations. Their objective is different: the unilateral declaration is, in reality, simply another tactic in a broader strategy of embarrassing and then de-legitimizing the State of Israel.

There is no historical, institutional or legal basis on which to recognize a Palestinian state today, except as a kind of “virtual state,” which exists in some fashion in the imaginations of various parties but which has no tether to reality. In the West Bank, Palestinians crucially depend on Israeli cooperation to function. Other more modern aspects of statehood, such as respect for human rights, freedom and a functioning democracy - all of which are required of other countries seeking recognition - are sadly lacking in the Palestinian case.

Indeed, this rush to a unilateral declaration of statehood, including the intra-Palestinian negotiations with Hamas, is impeding the deeper formation of civil society in the West Bank, which has made progress in recent years and which is essential to any enduring peace.

Blackmail will lead to disaster

A declaration of Palestinian statehood by the United Nations General Assembly will be an act of political manoeuvring that will only make it even more difficult to find a solution. Unilateral action will have unforeseeable consequences, so the only true way forward is through a bilateral agreement.

This is not the time for destructive gestures: it is time to encourage everyone to sit down and negotiate, face to face, with no pre-conditions other than mutual and unequivocal recognition.

There cannot be two states, living in peace side by side, unless Palestinians accept that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people and the Israelis accept that the Palestinian State will be the state for the Palestinian people. Absent that basis, no genuine progress will be made.

Israel has negotiated in good faith. The Palestinian side has squandered 31 opportunities for statehood.

The government in Jerusalem has said on numerous occasions that it is ready to talk. Now is the moment of truth for the Palestinians. They must choose negotiation, with all that negotiating entails, including concessions by both parties.

The alternative is for the representatives of the Palestinian people to continue demonizing their only possible negotiating partner, while expecting the international community to tilt the scales in their own favour. But blackmail will lead to disaster. Negotiations must be conducted in good faith and not as a means of exerting various forms of international pressure.

It is time for the international community, starting with the UN, to say that the time for game-playing and wishful thinking is past. Serious negotiations can only be conducted by Israelis and Palestinians themselves, no matter how much help or goodwill is provided from the outside. A unilaterally declared Palestinian State, which is not the product of bilateral negotiations, is a demand that Israel accept the unacceptable.

Diplomacy demands, above all, negotiation and agreement, not unilateral demands imposed with contempt....

Seven years after the bombing, authorities are still working to untangle the web of Misunderstanders of Islam that made the attack possible. "4 suspected Islamic militants set to go on trial in Spain," by Al Goodman for CNN, March 24 (thanks to Twostellas):

Madrid, Spain (CNN) -- Four suspected Islamic militants are due to go on trial Thursday afternoon in Madrid for allegedly aiding fugitives from the Madrid train bombings of 2004, a National Court spokesman told CNN.

Prosecutor Miguel Angel Carballo, at Spain's National Court, seeks sentences of eight to 13 years in prison against the four male suspects, who include a Moroccan, an Algerian, a Tunisian, and a fourth man whose nationality was not immediately disclosed, said the spokesman, who by custom is not identified.

The prosecutor alleges the suspects provided clandestine lodging in Madrid and in a Barcelona suburb, as well as other aid to various fugitives who "were directly implicated" in the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800, the spokesman said.

Spanish courts already have convicted 14 Islamic militants for their roles in the train bombings, along with four Spaniards, the latter for trafficking in explosives used in the attacks.

Additionally, seven other prime Islamic suspects in the attacks blew themselves up three weeks after the train bombings as police closed in on their hideout in a Madrid suburb. That explosion also killed a police officer and wounded various others.

The seventh anniversary of the train bombings was two weeks ago on March 11.

Last February, Spain's Supreme Court overturned a lower court's conviction of five other men for Islamic terrorist activities that included aiding fugitives from the Madrid train bombings and planning other attacks, according to the court order made public March 2.

The National Court in January 2010 had convicted the five other men --- three Moroccans, an Algerian and a Turk --- for collaborating or belonging to an Islamic terrorist group and sentenced them to prison terms from five to nine years....

Common sense over dhimmitude -- this time. An update on this story. "Muslim ham complaint thrown out," from The Olive Press, December 25:

A PROSECUTOR has thrown out a complaint made by a Muslim family against a geography teacher who mentioned pork in their son's class.

The teacher was explaining how cold climate in Granada highlands helps to preserve local Serrano ham.

The Children's Prosecutor of Algeciras, Juan Cisneros, described the complaining pupil's attitude as 'abusive, sectarian, capricious and inadmissible' and ordered the denouncement to be archived.

He said: "There is not even the minimal indication of any type of crime."

The prosecutor went on to condemn the media storm created by the pupil's parents and their opponents. He described the public's interest in the case as 'worrying'.

What's "worrying" is the arrogance, assertiveness, and irredentism of Muslims in Spain.

First in the country. One hopes it will not be the last -- both as a matter of preserving the national culture and identity, but also as a matter of public safety: the number of crimes committed by burqa-wearing criminals keeps increasing, even as the West relaxes laws against wearing masks in public in order to accommodate Muslims. More on this story. "Spain: City in northeast becomes country's first to ban burqa," from AKI, December 9 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

Madrid, 9 Dec. (AKI) - Lleida in the northeastern Catalonia region on Thursday became Spain's first city to introduce a ban on wearing the face-covering Islamic burqa in public places. These places include offices, sports centres, markets and other property owned by the city council. The niqab - which covers the face but leaves a small slit for the eyes - has also been banned.

"I feel proud of the fact that Lleida has become the first Spanish city to outlaw behaviour which discriminates against women," said the city's mayor, Angel Ros. "I hope it will be of educational value," he added....

I hope so, too.

An update on this story. "Spanish town becomes first to ban face-covering veils," from Agence France-Presse, December 9 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A northern Spanish town brought into force Thursday a ban on Islamic face-covering veils in municipal buildings, the first such decree in the country.

The town of Lleida, population 120,000, approved in July a municipal ban on body-covering burqas or face-covering niqab garments at about 130 locations, ranging from civic centres to swimming pools.

The law, implemented Thursday, was the first of its kind in Spain, where face-covering Islamic garments are seldom seen despite a sharp rise in immigration from Muslim countries over the past decade.

"I believe the burqa and the hijab, as well as similar garments that completely cover the face are an attack against equality between men and women, they are an attack against women's dignity," Lleida mayor Angel Ros said.

"I believe also that equality is something which our society has fought several years for and there can be no reason, not religious, not cultural, that attacks this basic principle," he said in an interview.

The law prohibits the "use of the veil and other clothes and accessories which cover the face and prevent identification in buildings and installations of the town hall."

Repeat offenders face fines of 600 euros ($795).

The Islamic veil has sparked intense debate in many European countries, with France in October passing a law to ban the wearing of the niqab and other face-coverings in public places.

The issue is a relatively new one for Spain, an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country.

The number of immigrants living in Spain soared from around half a million in 1996 to 5.7 million last year, out of a total population of just under 47 million people.

More on this story. "Spain Deepens Probe Into European Jihadist Passport Network," by David Roman for Dow Jones Newswires, December 3:

MADRID (Dow Jones) Spanish and Thai police have discovered a trove of documents including Chinese and European visas, as well as airport rubber stamps, amid a deepening probe into a Thailand-based Jihadist group, Spain's interior ministry said Friday.

Investigations shed new light on ties between terror groups and petty crime, with evidence showing that an Islamist cell in Thailand supplied doctored passports and other documents to organizations like al Qaida, Pakistan's Lashkar e Taiba and Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, but also to groups involved in human trafficking and illegal arms trading.

The passports were stolen in several locations across Europe, the Spanish ministry said. In particular, one cell comprising six Pakistanis and one Nigerian--all detained earlier this week --stole passports from tourists in the Barcelona area, which it later sent to Thailand.

According to a report in Spanish newspaper El Pais, the Barcelona cell relied on pickpockets, who were paid for stolen passports. These passports, from specific nationalities and age brackets, were selected following criteria set by the group's alleged head in Thailand, a Pakistani citizen identified by Spanish police as Muhammad Athar Butt.

One of those passports was carried by one of the Lashkar e Taiba terrorists who carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, killing 175, El Pais said. That discovery triggered the current probe, the newspaper added.

Athar Butt and two accomplices were in posession of doctored passports from Canada and Italy when they were detained in Bangkok earlier this week, Spain's Interior ministry said, as well as sophisticated equipment used for forgeries. Thai police has also discovered large amounts of documents and files belonging to the group, that are current being studied.

Your stolen passport may be a jihadi's ticket into a Western country. "Spain Dismantles Passport Ring For Islamic Cells Abroad," by David Roman for Dow Jones Newswires, December 1 (thanks to Twostellas):

MADRID -(Dow Jones)- Spanish police arrested seven men in Barcelona, suspected of stealing passports for radical Islamic cells in Thailand and Pakistan, and collaborating with the group that carried out the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, the country's Interior ministry said Wednesday.

The suspects, six Pakistanis and one Nigerian, are believed to be part of a European network that allegedly obtained passports to be forged in Thailand. The passports were later distributed to cells including Al Qaeda, Pakistan's Lashkar e Taiba--which carried out the Mumbai attacks, killing 175--and Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, the ministry said in a statement....

According to Spanish police, the group allegedly stole large amounts of foreign passports from tourists in Spain--practically all in or around Barcelona--over the 18-month period during which the group was under surveillance. The thefts were allegedly requested by the Thailand-based head of the group, who asked for passports with specific nationalities and age brackets.

If you review the facts of the case stated below and in initial reports following the incident, you may want to read the judge's assessment sitting down:

"There isn't so much an intention to minimize or harm the religious sentiments of the Catholic religion so much as an attempt to favor, not to say clearly impose, in a false gesture of tolerance, the possibility of carrying out joint worship [in the cathedral] ... "It doesn't act to demerit or discredit the Catholic religion, but rather in favor of joint use."

Nope, nothing to see here. "Violent Muslim Occupation of Church did not Violate Law Against Offending Religious Sentiments: Spanish Judge," by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman for Lifesitenews, November 10 (thanks to Basil):

CORDOBA, Spain, November 10, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Spanish judge has ruled that a violent occupation of the Cathedral of Cordoba by a group of Muslims in March of this year did not violate the nation's law against offending religious sentiments.

According to Europa Press, the judge occupying the seat of the Fourth Court of Instruction of Cordoba ruled that the incursion into the cathedral, which culminated in an assault on several guards and a policeman, was merely a "public disorder" and was not intended to offend anyone's religious sentiments.

"There isn't so much an intention to minimize or harm the religious sentiments of the Catholic religion so much as an attempt to favor, not to say clearly impose, in a false gesture of tolerance, the possibility of carrying out joint worship [in the cathedral]," the judge declared. "It doesn't act to demerit or discredit the Catholic religion, but rather in favor of joint use."

Spanish Muslims have long demanded the right to carry out Islamic worship in the Cathedral of Cordoba, which was demolished by Muslims in the 8th century and replaced with a mosque following their conquest of the area. The cathedral was rebuilt in the 13th century after Christians reconquered Cordoba. However, much of the original architecture of the mosque was left intact.

Despite a prohibition against Islamic worship in the cathedral, a group of approximately one hundred Muslims from Austria entered the building during Holy Week on March 31, led by an imam and sporting walkie-talkies. After they began to carry out the rites of the Islamic religion they were confronted by security guards and police, several of whom suffered injuries after being attacked by eight members of the group, one of whom brandished a knife. The eight aggressors were arrested, while the rest were allowed to go free after being forcibly removed from the cathedral.

Former resident of Texas. One wonders if, when he was there, everyone who knew him assumed that he was a "moderate," and that it would be "Islamophobic" even to consider any other possibility. "Spain arrests American al-Qaida suspect," by Daniel Woolls for Associated Press, September 29 (thanks to JCB):

MADRID - Spanish police have arrested a U.S. citizen of Algerian origin who is suspected of financing al-Qaida's North African affiliate, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

Mohamed Omar Debhi, 43, was arrested Tuesday in the town of Esplugues de Llobregat near Barcelona. His arrest is not connected to terrorism alerts this week in France and Britain and is just a coincidence, a ministry official said on condition of anonymity in line with ministry rules.

Debhi is suspected of laundering money and sending some of it to an associate in Algeria, Toufik Mizi, to be passed on to cells of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a ministry statement said. Mizi is wanted in Spain after eluding a police raid in 2008.

The ministry said Debhi used bank transfers or human couriers to send Mizi amounts in excess of euro60,000 ($80,000), although it did not specify how much was sent altogether.

The statement said Debhi was "linked to crimes of financing terrorism in the Sahel for al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb," referring to the vast stretch of sub-Saharan territory where the terror organization has kidnapped several Europeans and other Westerners in recent years....

The Interior Ministry official said Debhi at one point lived in Texas in a town with the postal code 77450. That corresponds to the town of Katy, near Houston. The ministry had no immediate information on when Debhi obtained U.S. citizenship, the official said.

As long as Westerners keep bowing to violent intimidation, Islamic supremacists will keep engaging in it. "Nightclub forced to change its name from Mecca after threats from Muslim extremists," by Tom Worden in the Daily Mail, September 16 (thanks to Kristian):

A popular Spanish nightclub has been forced to change its name from Mecca after sparking a furious reaction around the Islamic world.

Intelligence chiefs warned owners they were being targeted by extremists who claim the disco is insulting to their religion.

Hackers broke into the nightclub's website and posted a video threatening 'a great war between Spain and the people of Islam' if the venue did not change its name.

The controversy then spread around the Muslim world with media in the Middle East and north Africa picking up on the story.

Today the owners, said to include former Real Madrid goalkeeper Santiago Canizares, agreed to change the club's name after meeting with local Muslim leaders.

La Meca (Spanish for Mecca), was the most popular disco in the coastal city of Aguila, in Murcia, southeastern Spain, in the 1980s and 90s before it closed down a decade ago.

It re-opened on June 18 with the same name, sparking the current controversy.

Last week Spain's intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Centre (CNI), alerted the owners to threats being made online.

Moderate Spanish Muslims also called for the name to be changed.

Mohamed Ali, head of the Spanish Federation of Islamic Religious Entities said: 'Muslims pray towards Mecca and it is there that the prophet received the holy Koran.

'Calling a place for dancing and drinking by that name shows disregard to the feelings of Muslims.'...

And of course Muslims are always so sensitive to the feelings of non-Muslims. Just look at Feisal Abdul Rauf.

The jihad flotilla group has been exposed as having clear, long-standing ties to terrorism and jihad, but that doesn't stop these predatory "activists" from claiming victim status and trying to demonize Israel yet again. "Spanish activists sue Israel over Gaza flotilla raid," from Deutsche Presse Agentur, July 23 (thanks to Twostellas):

Two Spanish activists who were on board the aid flotilla raided by Israeli troops on May 31 on Friday sued Israel for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Nine Turkish activists were killed in the attack.

Manuel Tapial and Laura Arau -- two of the three Spaniards who were on board the ships -- lodged a complaint against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, six members of his cabinet and a senior military officer at Spain's National Court.

Mr. Tapial said his aid association would send two Spanish--flagged ships to Gaza in an attempt to break Israel's blockade....

An update on this story; a ban on burqas in government buildings may still be forthcoming. "Spain parliament rejects burqa ban _ for now," by Alan Clendenning and Harold Heckle for the Associated Press, July 20:

MADRID -- Spain's Parliament on Tuesday rejected a proposal to ban women from wearing in public places Islamic veils that reveal only the eyes.

However, the Socialist government has said it favors including a ban on people wearing burqas in government buildings in an upcoming bill on religious issues to be debated after parliament's summer vacation break.

Following a lower chamber debate, 183 lawmakers opposed the ban, 162 voted for it and two abstained.

The nonbinding proposal had been put forward by the leading opposition Popular Party, which portrayed it as a measure in support of women's rights. The ruling Socialist Party opposed the ban.

"It is very difficult to understand how it is that our troops are defending liberty in Afghanistan and the government doesn't have the courage to do so here, in Spain," said opposition spokeswoman Soraya Saenz de Santamaria in Parliament.

The opposition's proposal followed discussions in several other European countries on possibly banning face veils that show only a woman's eyes, or their eyes through a knitted mesh.

Nations like France, Belgium and Switzerland have struggled to balance their national identities with growing Muslim populations with cultural practices that clash with their own.

And clash with Western standards of human rights and dignity.

In Spain, the PP had put forward the proposal "in defense of the dignity and equality of all women" and to prevent Muslim women from being forced into wearing unwanted garments such as veils by their husbands....

An update on this story. "Spanish parliament to debate ban on public burqas," by Harold Heckle for the Associated Press, July 18:

MADRID - Spanish lawmakers will debate barring burqas in public, joining other European countries considering similar moves on the grounds that the body-covering garments are degrading to women, the leading opposition party said Sunday.

Top officials of the ruling Socialist Party have indicated they will support the proposal by the opposition Popular Party, making a ban likely unless the country's highest court rules it unconstitutional.

A debate in Spain's lower house has been set by the Popular Party for Tuesday or Wednesday, the party said.

No vote will be scheduled until after the debate, and Spain's Parliament usually goes on vacation for a month starting in late July or early August.

Justice Minister Francisco Caamano said on June 15 that garments like the burqa are "hardly compatible with human dignity."

Head-covering veils would not be included in a ban as they form a part of traditional Spanish dress, with women often covering their heads with a garment called a mantilla, especially during church services in the south of the country.

In substance as well as symbolism, one of these things is not like the other.

Other European nations that have debated regulating the use of body-covering burqas or face-covering niqabs include Belgium, the Netherlands and France.

A notable exception has been Britain, where Immigration Minister Damian Green described calls to outlaw such garb as "un-British."...

Following a trend of local burqa bans within the country. "Spain's Senate Votes to Ban Burqa," by Raphael Minder for the New York Times, June 23:

MADRID -- In a significant escalation of Spain's debate over how to handle radical Islam, the Senate on Wednesday narrowly and unexpectedly approved a motion to ban Muslim women from wearing in public the burqa or other garments that cover the whole body.

The vote, 131 to 129, was another setback for the Socialist government of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, which had favored more-limited restrictions on Islamic clothing and has instead been pushing to curtail religious fundamentalism through better education.

The Spanish vote comes amid several national initiatives across Europe to restrict the spread of radical Islam and defend liberal values. [...]

The motion adopted by the senators calls on Spain to outlaw "any usage, custom or discriminatory practice that limits the freedom of women." It was drafted and led by politicians from the main center-right opposition People's Party. [...]

The Senate's position also came as a surprise because although Spain has become a major European entry point for Muslim migrants from North Africa, few of those immigrants wear either the burqa or the niqab, which does not cover the eyes. A similar argument has also been made by opponents of a burqa ban in countries like France, where only an estimated 100,000 women wear the burqa out of a Muslim population of about 5 million. France, however, already passed a law in 2004 to ban head scarves or any other "conspicuous" religious symbol from state schools in order to preserve their secularism.

The Spanish government is supposed to follow the Senate's motion. However, given that Socialist senators opposed the ban, the governing party is likely to seek ways to circumvent the vote....

"It should not be possible that someone enters into a place without being identified," or, for that matter, only identifiable as the possession of someone else, which is what the niqab reduces a woman to in public. "Barcelona plans Islamic veil ban," from Expatica, June 14 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

Barcelona plans to be the first large city in Spain to ban the use of the full-face Islamic veil in public buildings, its mayor announced Monday.

Jordi Hereu said he will sign a decree which will apply in all public spaces such as the city hall and municipal covered markets and creches.

"It should not be possible that someone enters into a place without being identified," the Socialist mayor said.

He said the measure is not aimed at "any particular religious group" and would also apply to people wearing crash helmets and balaclavas.

Two other towns in the northeastern region of Catalonia, Lerida and El Venrell, have recently imposed bans on the use of the Islamic veil in public buildings.

Two more, Tarragona and Gerona, are considering similar measures, as is Coin in the southern region of Andalucia.

Spain's conservative opposition Popular Party has said it plans to present a proposal in Catalonia's regional parliament to ban the full-face veil in public places throughout the region.

Authorities in 11 mosques in Catalonia have vowed to challenge the bans in Spain's Constitutional Court.

Immigration from Muslim countries has grown dramatically in Spain since the 1990s, with Catalonia in particular being home to a large community of Pakistani origin.

There are now about one million Muslims among Spain's population of 47 million.

Last month, lawmakers in Belgium approved a draft law to ban the wearing of the Muslim full-face veil in public places, including streets -- creating a controversial first for Europe, although it is still subject to a senate vote.

Debate is raging in France as well, where the cabinet has approved a draft law to ban the Muslim full-face veil from public spaces, opening the way for the text to go before parliament in July.

"[Spokeswoman Inma] Martos told The Associated Press the idea behind the ban is that such veils are degrading to women." But it will be predictably spun as "Islamophobic" and, of course, "racist." "Spanish city bans Islamic veils at the town hall," from the Associated Press, May 28:

MADRID -- The Spanish city of Lleida has barred women from wearing face-covering Islamic veils inside its municipal buildings.

The move makes the northern city of Lleida -- population of 135,000 -- the first in Spain to regulate the garments that have triggered debate across Europe.

Lleida's town hall passed the ban Friday with 23 votes in favor, one against and two abstentions.

The gesture is largely symbolic, because town hall spokeswoman Inma Martos said only about 3 percent of the population is Muslim and only a handful of Muslim women in Lleida actually wear body-covering burqas or face-covering niqab garments.

Martos told The Associated Press the idea behind the ban is that such veils are degrading to women.

The New York Times did not distinguish itself when the Nazis came to power. It kept stories of the persecution of the Jews to small items, on the inside pages, and failed to convey to its readers, many of whom must surely have been Jewish and had relatives they might have more vigorously attempted to help, the full story of what Hitler so clearly intended. And many readers of The New York Times, both Jewish and non-Jewish, might have done more throughout the 1930s to strengthen the power of those who wanted American intervention, and consequently a much earlier buildup of American military strength at a time when the American army was only the 18th largest in the world. The full story is told by Laurel Leff, and I would go further than she does, and charge that those such as the Sulzberger family who didn't want to have their paper appear to be "too concerned with Jewish matters" in fact have blood on their hands, the blood of those who were not rescued because all through the nineteen thirties, and even into the period of America's entry into the war, there was not nearly enough coverage of the persecution and mass murder of the Jews from the "newspaper of record."

The same was true of the coverage of the Communists, and especially of the forced starvation of the kulaks and others in the Ukraine. Walter Duranty was the Times' correspondent in the Soviet Union, and a sympathizer with the Communists, a man deeply impressed with Joseph Stalin. For his deeply misleading and in retrospect sickening reports, he won a Pulitzer Prize. He helped, by commission, to convey a false reality concerning the Soviet Union and its murderous policies, just as the owners of the Times helped, by deliberate omission and de-emphasizing, to convey a false reality concerning the Nazis and their murderous policies, and chief and earliest victims, the Jews of Germany and then of Eastern Europe.

Not content with that record, the New York Times over nearly the last decade has done nothing to enlighten its readers about the ideology of Islam. If you read the Times every day, faithfully, from 9/11/2001 on to today, you still would not know what the word "Hadith" means or what an "isnad-chain" is. You still would not be able to define the word "Sunnah." You still would not know that Muhammad is regarded as the Model of Conduct, uswa hasana, and the Perfect Man, al-insan al-kamil, or why it matters. You still would not know about little Aisha, and why Muhammad's "marriage" to her when she was nine years old had consequences in the Islamic Republic of Iran when Khomeini came to power, and still has permanent consequences for girls all over the Muslim-ruled lands.

Actually, it was 100 Muslims praying inside the Cordoba cathedral. When asked to stop, they attacked the security guards.

Of course the ban on Muslim prayer should remain inside the Cordoba cathedral -- at least until the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople becomes a cathedral again.

"Two arrested after fight in Cordoba's former mosque," by Giles Tremlett in The Guardian, April 1 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A confrontation between Muslim tourists and guards employed by the Roman Catholic bishop at the world-famous Cordoba mosque saw two people arrested and two guards injured last night.

Trouble broke out when the visitors knelt to pray in the building, a former mosque turned into a Christian cathedral in the 13th century, where a local bishop, Demetrio Fernández, recently insisted that a ban on Muslim prayers must remain.

Half a dozen members of a group of more than 100 Muslims from Austria had started praying among the marble columns and coloured arches of the vast building when security guards ordered them to stop.

"They provoked in a pre-planned fashion what was a deplorable episode of violence," the bishop's office said in a statement.

Cathedral authorities said the guards had invited the visitors to continue viewing the inside of a 24,000 sq metre building that was once the world's second biggest mosque, but without praying.

"They replied by attacking the security guards, two of whom suffered serious injuries," the bishop's office said.

Local newspapers reported that a dozen police officers had been called into the building and that these, too, had been attacked when they tried to arrest the two visitors.

The local Diario de Cordoba newspaper quoted anonymous police sources as saying that a knife had been taken off one of those arrested.

A group of local Muslim converts have long campaigned for the right to pray at the mosque building. "The building is very big and the main cathedral occupies only a part of it," said Mansur Escudero of the Junta Islamica group.

"They publicise the building as a mosque because that brings in tourists, but they do not allow the Muslims who pay money to go inside to pray," he said.

Escudero said a space for Muslim prayers would not inconvenience visitors or disturb the cathedral and would promote dialogue and understanding between the two religions. He said there were frequent incidents of Muslims being prevented from praying.

"They argue that canon law does not allow Muslims to pray there, though they have been happy to permit visiting Saudi princes and other dignitaries, including Saddam Hussein, to pray," he said.

"A new bishop was appointed recently and one of his first public statements was to say that Muslim prayers would not be allowed as this would create confusion," he said. "It seems the guards have instructions to prevent prayers with violence, if necessary."

It wouldn't just cause confusion. It would be a prelude to the re-Islamization of the entire structure, and to the forbidding of Christian prayer there. Don't believe me? Try going into any mosque, including those that were formerly churches like the Hagia Sophia (which is now a museum in any case, although Islamic prayer is not forbidden inside it), and pray Christian prayers in a loud voice. Watch what happens next.

Cathedral authorities reiterated their ban on prayers. "The shared use of the cathedral by Catholics and Muslims would not contribute to the peaceful coexistence of the two beliefs," the statement from the bishop's office said.

"This one-off incident does not represent the genuine attitude of Muslims, many of whom maintain an attitude of respect and dialogue with the Catholic church," it added. "We deplore the damage done to the image of our city and to the peaceful coexistence of visitors and citizens."...

Note that it was cathedral authorities pontificating about "the genuine attitude of Muslims," not Muslim spokesmen.

Church authorities also recalled that archeologists had shown that, prior to the construction of the mosque in the eighth century, a Christian temple had stood on the same spot....

Most Western analysts would regard this as good news: Muslims eschewing terrorism assimilating into a Western country, and even participating in the established political process! What could be the downside? Well, there are several. First, the fact that the new political party is specifically Muslim is a sign that those who formed it are not assimilating and adopting various views along the Western political spectrum, but are merely furthering the cause of Islam as a political entity in Spain. For what could a Muslim political party possibly stand for except for Sharia values? Second, although the focus in officialdom in the U.S. and Europe is wholly and solely on "terrorism," actually the real threat is the attempt to impose Sharia in the West, whether by violent or peaceful means. The establishment of this political party is just an exercise in the peaceful, rather than violent, spread of Sharia norms in the West.

"New Muslim political party launched in Spain," from Typically Spanish, March 6 (thanks to Twostellas):

The first national political party to have a Muslim character has been launched in Granada. The Partido Renacimeinto y Unión España or PRUNE party of Spain, says it is open to all the world.

Based on Islam, and founded by the writer, poet and journalist, Mostafa Bakkach El Aamrani, it says it intends to contest the municipal elections next year in Málaga, Madrid, Barcelona, Murcia, Valencia, Oviedo and Toledo on a manifesto of 'justice, equality and solidarity'....

Yet another imam who misunderstands Islam. Why is it that those who have devoted their lives to the study of Islam seem to be the ones most prone to misunderstanding the Islamic teachings we hear so much about from Islamic spokesmen in the West -- such as that Islam inculcates respect for women, and Islam is a Religion of Peace™?

"Spain: Restraining Order On Imam For Threats To Muslim Woman," from ANSAmed, February 9 (thanks to Insubria):

(ANSAmed) - MADRID, FEBRUARY 9 - A judge in the court of the province of Tarragona has banned a radical imam in the Catalonian town of Cunit from coming within a certain distance of a moderate Muslim woman who accused the man of repeatedly threatening her for her 'Western' behaviour, reports El Pais today. The same restraining order was issued by the judge against another three individuals who are associated with the imam, who are accused of taking part in the threats against the woman. According to El Pais, 31-year-old Fatima Ghailan, of Moroccan origin, employed as a cultural mediator by the municipality of Cunit, was repeatedly threatened by the imam for not wearing a headscarf, for driving a car, for spending time with Spanish people who are not Muslims and for not respecting the period of fasting during Ramadan. The man reportedly organised a defamatory campaign against her in order to get her fired from her job with the municipality. According to the newspaper, the public prosecutor of Tarragona asked for a prison sentence of between two and five years for the imam and the other three individuals for "threats, intimidation and slander". (ANSAmed).

"She and her husband were accosted in the street by the imam, who told them they would be run out of the town" ... in Spain.

Eurabia Alert. "Imam in Spain charged for 'harassing woman over veil'," from the Telegraph, January 28 (thanks to Alan):

The prosecutors are seeking a five-year jail sentence for Mohammed Benbrahim, a Moroccan, on charges of slander, coercion and menacing behaviour against fellow Moroccan Muslim Fatima Ghailan. The two live in Cunit, a town in Catalonia, a region with a sizable Muslim population.

The court filed similar charges against the president of the Islamic Association in Cunit and lesser ones against Mr Benbrahim's wife and his daughter.

In a statement to the court in the nearby town of Vendrells, Mrs Ghailan, 31, said Benbrahim had harassed her and campaigned to have her removed from her job in the town hall's cultural department purely because she had a job, dressed in a Western style, drove a car and associated with non-Muslims.

She said the imam and his supporters also pressured her husband and children.

Mrs Ghailan filed a complaint in December, 2008, after she said she and her husband were accosted in the street by the imam, who told them they would be run out of the town.

Mr Benbrahim was quoted by the Spanish daily El Pais as denying the charges and claiming Mrs Ghailan concocted the story. He said he simply felt the woman was not suitable for the job.

But the prosecutors' office said the judge investigating the case had found the woman's account credible and decided to press charges....

"Asians." "Men." "Men of South Asian origin." "Pakistanis." "Men." "Born in Pakistan." "Pakistani origin."

Eight paragraphs in, we learn it was a "suspected Islamist cell." Until then, one might almost have gotten the impression that Pakistan had declared war on Spain. And that is the problem with this kind of coverage, which is, of course, thoroughly ordinary. It is not because they are "men," or "Asians," or "Pakistanis" that they are waging war on Spain. So these reports are essentially misleading.

"Asians jailed over planned metro attack," from AFP, December 15 (thanks to Block Ness):

Spain's anti-terrorism court has convicted 11 men of South Asian origin, mostly Pakistanis, in connection with a plot to stage suicide attacks in the Barcelona metro last year.

The men have received jail terms of between eight and 14 years, a copy of the ruling indicates.

They intended to "carry out a violent attack using explosives against the Barcelona metro, which could have caused many casualties", the court said on Monday.

"The indiscriminate aim is evidence of the terrorist nature of the attacks."

Shaib Iqbal and Qadeer Malik, both born in Pakistan, received the stiffest terms of 14 years and six months for "belonging to a terrorist group" and for "weapons possession".

Maroof Ahmed Mirza, also of Pakistani origin and who the court said was "the leader of the group", was jailed for 10-and-a-half years for "belonging to a terrorist group", while the other eight each received terms of eight-and-a-half years on the same charge.

Ten of the men were arrested in the northeastern city of Barcelona in January 2008 in raids during which police also recovered bomb-making equipment. Another was detained five months later in the Netherlands.

The charges were based on the declarations of an informant who was a member of the suspected Islamist cell and who then became a protected witness.

The court said the cell was inspired by Baitullah Mehsud, leader of a Pakistani Taliban group linked to al-Qaeda, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan....

In May 2007, Spain's high court acquitted 11 Pakistanis of planning extremist attacks in Barcelona, but convicted three of them of collaborating with terrorists and two of falsifying documents.

They can do this sort of thing with impunity, because one thing they can be sure of is that the Europeans will never stop giving the aid. "Al-Qaeda 'took French and Spanish hostages in Africa,'" from the BBC, December 8 (thanks to Twostellas):

An offshoot of the al-Qaeda network has reportedly said its members kidnapped three Spanish aid workers in Mauritania and a Frenchman in Mali last month.

A spokesman for al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb made the claim in an audio recording to the al-Jazeera TV station.

There has been no sighting of the four Europeans since the kidnappings, which took place within days of each other.

The same group is believed to be behind the murder of British hostage Edwin Dyer in June.

Pierre Camatte, 61, was taken from his hotel by gunmen in Menaka in Mali on 25 November, while Albert Vilalta, 35, Roque Pascual, 50, and Alicia Gamez, 35, were snatched from an aid convey near Mauritania's northern city of Nouadhibou on 29 November....

In the audio recording, al-Qaeda spokesman Saleh Abu Mohammad said his organisation had "managed to kidnap four Europeans in two distinct operations".

He added that the group would contact France and Spain at a later date with its demands, but gave no further details about what these were, AFP reported....

The UK recently warned its nationals not to visit northern Mali because of the threat of attack by the North African branch of al-Qaeda.

There goes my spring vacation.

In June this year an American teacher was killed in Mauritania, with al-Qaeda later claiming it had killed him for spreading Christianity in the Islamic state.

She escaped, but here is a glimpse into Europe's glorious future. "Spain: Salafist criminal 'procedure' condemns a woman to death on adultery charges," from Tea and Politics, December 5 (a translation of "Un 'juicio' islamista condenó a una mujer a morir por adúltera en Reus," from El Periódico, December 5, with thanks to Claudia):

An Islamist procedure in full. Like the ones held by the Talibans in Afghanistan or by extremist militias in Somalia. But this time it was held in an isolated masía (sort of cottage typical of Catalonia). There, 9 islamists, all of Maghrebi origin, had kidnapped a woman and retained her.

The woman was judged by her captors, who had decided to held a procedure in which they accused her of adultery. Supporting an extremist version of the Islamic law, the Sharia, the kidnappers decided to condemn her to death, according to investigation's sources.

Luckily, she escaped and went to a police station (Mossos d'Esquadra). According to the agents, her kidnappers were planning to execute her in a short period of time.

After carrying an investigation on the woman's statement, the Mossos entered on Nov 14th's midnight in three apartments, located in Reus (Baix Camp) and Valls (Alt Camp) and arrested 9 men, all of them linked to the Salafist movement, an ultraorthodox Islamic school very spread throughout Tarragona. No violent incident have been previously reported as committed by this movement in these surroundings.

Criminal Judge no. 1 from Tarragona has believed what the woman denounced and has ordered imprisonment without bail of 7 of the 9 arrested Islamists. They are accused of performing an ilegal arrest, attempted murder and illicit association....

Seven financiers of the tiny minority of extremists in three Spanish cities, with links to 10 others who were operating in four other European countries. From Expatica, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

MALAGA — Police on the Costa del Sol have arrested seven people suspected of financing the activities of Islamic terrorist groups.

The raids took place early on Friday in Malaga, Torremolinos and Marbella.

Last month, Spanish police arrested 10 suspects wanted for allegedly providing logistical support, including financing, to radical Islamic groups.

Spain's interior ministry linked the suspects from the November arrests to an Algerian-based radical Islamic organization, the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which has been widely-linked to Al-Qaeda.

Spanish police have found links in the operation to Algerians living in Germany, the Netherlands, Britain and Denmark and officers have contacted relevant authorities in those countries to provide information about the investigation.

Cash has been raised to fund terrorist attacks through drug trafficking, forged credit cards and property and vehicle theft.

I discussed Mohamed Kamal Mustafa and his wife-beating book in Islam Unveiled, which I wrote in 2001. In it I reported that an association of Spanish women's groups had brought suit against him; it has taken that long for this case to wend its way through the Spanish courts, while Mustafa has been able to continue to preach his views in Spain unhindered.

I also noted that Mustafa had merely restated and elaborated upon Qur'an 4:34: "good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them." Now a judge has ordered him to study Spain's constitution; what will he find in that constitution that will convince him to set aside the Qur'an?

This judge has given us yet another example of how ignorance of Islam and the jihad imperative cripple our response to it. If he knew that Mustafa was simply working from the Qur'an itself, it is unlikely that he would think that an Imam would allow himself to be turned from that path by studying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the constitution of Spain. After all, another Muslim theorist, the Iranian Sufi Sheikh Sultanhussein Tabandeh, wrote a book criticizing the Universal Declaration on Islamic grounds: A Muslim Commentary on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- indicating that it is at least possible, if not probable, that a Muslim religious teacher, when confronted with the incompatibility of Qur'anic directives with Western notions of human rights, will discard not Islam, but Western notions of human rights.

After all, right here at Jihad Watch I once had an exchange with an English convert to Islam, who signed his name "Yusuf Smith Indigo Jo)." I said: "I would like nothing better than a flowering, a renaissance, in the Muslim world, including full equality of rights for women and non-Muslims in Islamic societies: freedom of conscience, equality in laws regarding legal testimony, equal employment opportunities, etc." To that he responded: "So, you would like to see us ditch much of our religion and, thereby, become non-Muslims."

In other words, he saw a call for equality of rights for women and non-Muslims in Islamic societies, including freedom of conscience, equality in laws regarding legal testimony, and equal employment opportunities, as a challenge to his religion. Will Mustafa think anything else after reading over the Universal Declaration?

Or maybe the judge is hoping that Mustafa, when seeing this incompatibility, will leave Spain voluntarily.

From The Telegraph:

The judge told Mohamed Kamal Mustafa, imam of a mosque in the southern resort of Fuengirola, to spend six months studying three articles of the constitution and the universal declaration of human rights.

Mr Kamal was sentenced to 15 months in jail and fined £1,500 last year after being found guilty of inciting violence against women. However, despite objections from Spain's socialist government, a judge released him after 22 days in jail on condition that he undertake a re-education course.

A commission recommends that imams should speak Spanish and have a basic knowledge of human rights and Spanish law.

In his book Women in Islam, published four years ago, Kamal wrote that according to Islamic law, a disobedient wife could be beaten.

"The blows should be concentrated on the hands and feet using a rod that is thin and light so that it does not leave scars or bruises on the body,'' he wrote.

Might the jihad extend even into the courtroom of those who are being tried for pursuing it? Why not? From Expatica, :

The Spaniard Enrique Cerda and Pakistani Ahmed Rukshar were due to go on trial accused of helping raise funds in connection with Fheik Mahammed, said to be Al Qaeda's 'No 3'.

Fheik Mahammed is implicated in the 9/11 attacks on the United States and a bomb attack on a synagogue in Tunis.

Spain's highest court, the Audiencia Nacional, postponed the trial until 2 November because two French police officers who detained the accused refused to attend court because they claimed there was a "lack of security".

Instead, the two officers will give evidence in France to the court.

From AP via Fox News, .

MADRID, Spain — Police arrested 16 Islamic terror suspects in raids in several cities, including 11 men accused of having ties to Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi's group Al Qaeda in Iraq and recruiting people for attacks there, officials said Wednesday.

The 11 were part of a support group for a Syrian-based recruitment network for attacks on U.S. and allied forces, and some of them had said they themselves wanted to become "martyrs for Islam" and were awaiting orders to do so, the Interior Ministry said. It did not specify how Spanish authorities learned of these alleged intentions.

Most of the 11 are Moroccan and practically all of them sold drugs and committed robberies to finance the network, the ministry said. They were arrested as part of an investigation that began in 2004.

The other five detainees were described as suspects in last year's train bombing in Madrid.

Some 500 Spanish police took part in raids in Barcelona, Valencia, the southern Andalusia region, and Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the northern coast of Morocco...

It said the apparent leader of the Spanish group's recruitment activities was a 28-year-old Moroccan named Samir Tahtah, arrested near Barcelona. He coordinated communications with overseas leaders of the network and the sending of recruits to Iraq for terrorist attacks, the statement said...

The myth of Islamic tolerance is presented as fact in this AP story, "Anti-Semitism Conference Opens in Spain" (thanks to Seymour Paine for the link):

CORDOBA, Spain (AP) -- Governments must take concrete measures to fight anti-Semitism and other hate crimes, delegates to an international conference said Wednesday, meeting in a city where Jews, Muslims and Christians once lived in harmony.

The more often this sort of thing is repeated in this casual way, the more firmly it becomes lodged in the popular consciousness. And then the cries of "bigotry" begin against those who dare question it. Hitler found this an effective tactic in his day.

In fact, Muslim Spain was hardly a paradise for non-Muslims. Even Maria Rosa Menocal, in her extended whitewash of Muslim Spain called The Ornament of the World, admits that at the laws of dhimmitude were very much in force in the great Al-Andalus:

The dhimmi, as these covenanted peoples were called, were granted religious freedom, not forced to convert to Islam. They could continue to be Jews and Christians, and, as it turned out, they could share in much of Muslim social and economic life. In return for this freedom of religious conscience the Peoples of the Book (pagans had no such privilege) were required to pay a special tax — no Muslims paid taxes — and to observe a number of restrictive regulations: Christians and Jews were prohibited from attempting to proselytize Muslims, from building new places of worship, from displaying crosses or ringing bells. In sum, they were forbidden most public displays of their religious rituals.

So much for paradise. Also, historian Kenneth Baxter Wolf observes that “much of this new legislation aimed at limiting those aspects of the Christian cult which seemed to compromise the dominant position of Islam.” After enumerating a list of laws much like Menocal’s, he adds: “Aside from such cultic restrictions most of the laws were simply designed to underscore the position of the dimmîs as second-class citizens.” These laws were not uniformly or strictly enforced; Christians were forbidden public funeral processions, but one contemporary account tells of priests merely “pelted with rocks and dung” rather than being arrested while on the way to a cemetery.

If Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together peaceably and productively only with Christians and Jews relegated by law to second-class citizen status, then al-Andalus has absolutely no reason to be lionized in our age. The laws of dhimmitude give all of Menocal’s accounts of Jewish viziers and Christian diplomats the same hollow ring as the stories of prominent American blacks from the slavery and Jim Crow eras: yes, Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington were great men, but their accomplishments not only do not erase or contradict the records of the oppression of their people, but render them all the more poignant and haunting. Whatever the Christians and Jews of al-Andalus accomplished, they were still dhimmis. They enjoyed whatever rights and privileges they had not out of any sense of the dignity of all people before God, or the equality of all before the law, but at the sufferance of their Muslim overlords.

There is more on this in Onward Muslim Soldiers.

From Expatica, :

ALICANTE -- An aeronautical engineer has been arrested for allegedly designing missiles for the Palestinian terrorist organisations Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Marwan Ismail Dahman, who was born in Gaza, in Palestine but is a naturalised Spaniard, was arrested in Benidorm in the Alicante province, the Spanish daily El Pais reported.

He allegedly offered to design a new type of Qasam missile which can potentially be used for attacks on Israel.

Police sources said plans for the missile design, which had been sent by fax to the two Palestinian terrorist organisations were found in Dahman's house.

Jihadists working from bases in Europe -- and even in that vaunted bastion of Islamic moderation, Bosnia. From Bulgaria's Sofia News Agency, with thanks to Fraser:

The terrorists that carried out the Madrid bombings in March 2004 have been trained at special Al Qaeda based in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The news was broken Tuesday by the chief of the local police department Dragomir Andan at a special press conference. RIA Novosti cited the top police chief as saying that all 11 terrorists left for Spain passing through Sarajevo.

It was also reported that the explosives used in the terror acts were produced in Bosnia.

When did Imad Yarkas misunderstand Islam, and how much did he misunderstand it?* "Al-Qaida's Suspected Leader in Spain Denies Founding Cell That Helped in Sept. 11 Attacks," from AP, :

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Al-Qaida's suspected leader in Spain denied Monday that he founded a radical Muslim cell accused of helping plot the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States. Imad Yarkas, a 42-year-old Syrian, said he had never heard of a group called Soldiers of Allah until he was arrested in November 2001 and read about the group in Spanish news reports.

"It is an invention," Yarkas said as he took the stand in the trial of 24 suspected al-Qaida members. "I have never heard of it, only in this investigation."

Yarkas is accused of directing a terrorist cell that allegedly provided logistical cover for Sept. 11 plotters, including Mohamed Atta, who is believed to have piloted one of the two hijacked planes that destroyed the World Trade Center towers....

Judge Baltasar Garzon has said the group was formed at a Madrid mosque in 1995, was led by Yarkas and affiliated itself with al-Qaida, eventually helping organize the suicide airliner attacks in the United States.

Yarkas was peppered with questions from prosecutor Pedro Rubira about his contacts with other defendants in the trial and suspected militants abroad. Yarkas insisted he knew them only as acquaintances who attended the same mosques.

*Yes, this is sarcasm.

Traditional Islamic theology holds that any land that has once belonged to the House of Islam belongs to it forever. That is the ultimate impulse behind the efforts to eradicate Israel, and a growing parallel movement in Spain. "Andalusia's connection," from the Toronto Star:

At the Jamal Islamiya mosque in this seaside town, a Muslim lament of historic proportions is proclaimed in large letters on a framed poster: "In 1492, we lost everything."

For the mosque's leader, and much of the Muslim world, the year marks the traumatic conclusion of Islam's golden age, a time remembered like a collective wound.

It's a period when the last piece of Muslim-held territory in Spain fell to Catholic monarchs, ending almost 800 years of Moorish rule on the Iberian peninsula.

Centuries when poetry, science and architecture flourished under Islamic caliphs expired with bonfires of Arabic manuscripts, mass expulsion and extermination in the Inquisition.

To the east, the Muslim empire of the Ottomans would reign for another four centuries. But many would trace its long decline to the fall of Al Andalus, the Moorish name for Andalusia.

The result is a yearning that today makes Spain, more than any other
European country, a battleground in the name of Islam.

"They stole 500 years of history from us," says Omar Checa Garcia, who heads the Jamal Islamiya mosque and cultural centre. "We want it back, but we don't want revenge."

What does it mean to want it back without wanting revenge? Just restore the Islamic state and there will be no reprisals?

Others are not so accommodating. Osama bin Laden uses what he calls the "tragedy of Al Andalus" as a rallying cry for his deadly brand of Islamic jihad against "the crusaders and Jews."

After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, bin Laden's chief lieutenant, Ayman al Zawahiri, drew a parallel between the loss of the Iberian peninsula and the struggle of Palestinians.

"We will not accept that the tragedy of Al Andalus be repeated in
Palestine," he said....

On March 11, 2004, a cell of mainly Moroccan extremists, calling themselves "the brigade situated in Al Andalus," detonated 10 bombs that killed 191 people on Madrid commuter trains....

Read it all.

From Expatica, :

MADRID-Spanish police have arrested a Syrian for the second time for his alleged links to the Madrid bombings.

Mohannad Almallah Dabas was detained in his home in Madrid for his alleged links to the massacre in which 191 people were killed and 1,500 injured when four commuter trains were bombed on 11 March last year.

Dabas was arrested in March last year in the wake of the attacks, but later released.

He and his brother Moutaz Almallah were accused of recruiting young men and turning them into Islamic extremists and sending them abroad....

How do you think they turn young men into "Islamic extremists"? With Qur'an and Sunnah, of course.

This shouldn't come as any surprise to those who understand the ideological ties that bind together the two attacks and their perpetrators. From Reuters, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

MADRID (Reuters) - The FBI has established the clearest link yet between the March 11 Madrid train bombings and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, a Spanish newspaper reported Sunday.

The FBI has told Spanish investigators that one of three men believed to have planned the Sept. 11 attacks from Spain in the summer of 2001 also gave the order to carry out the Madrid blasts, the newspaper ABC reported.

The train bombings killed 191 people and wounded 1,900 three days before a general election. In videotapes, the bombers claimed the attacks in the name of al Qaeda in Europe and said they were in revenge for Spain sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Investigators have long concluded that the Sept. 11 attacks were partially planned in Spain in July 2001.

Hijacker Mohammed Atta, believed to have piloted one of the airliners that crashed into New York's World Trade Center, visited Spain two months before the attacks and met two men.

One was Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, who is being held by U.S. authorities, while the other was unidentified.

ABC said investigators now believe that third man was the one who in December 2003 activated the Qaeda cell that carried out the March 11 attacks, which Spaniards call "our Sept. 11."

This Spanish-language story from El Mundo (thanks to Silvia) reveals new demands on the Spanish dhimmis: deny your history and culture. Above all, conceal the fact that modern Spain emerged out of seven centuries of Islamic occupation. My rough-and-ready translation of part of the piece:

MADRID - The Secretary General of the Union of Islamic Communities in Spain, Riay Tatary, considers that the possible suppression of the four severed heads of Moors who appear on the shield of Aragón would contribute to harmony in this Autonomous Community.

Tatary made this reflection in relation to the decision of the Government of Aragón to study the possibility of suppressing the heads on the shield.

The Islamic representative commented that in the Autonomous Community of Aragón a survey has been taken whose results indicate that most of more than 600 people interviewed did not know the meaning of the four Moorish heads.

Finally, Tatary reiterated that he is in favor of the suppression of those heads, "if it does not cause social repercussions - and I believe that it will not - because is positive and fosters harmony in the Community of Aragón."