Free Republic

THIEVES escaped with thousands of litres of olive oil from a factory in the Teba municipality of Malaga province on Wednesday, August 16. Operating under the cover of darkness, the criminals took advantage of the factory’s remote location and managed to disable the facility’s security cameras and alarms before gaining entry during the early hours. As reported this Tuesday 22 by malagahoy.es, some of the stolen oil was already packaged while the rest of it was bottled up by the crooks. The theft went unnoticed until the workers started arriving at around 7 am the same day. In addition to...

The regional government of the Andalusia region, the Junta de Andalucía, has announced that it will begin to issue the European green vaccination certificate, or ‘COVID Passport’ from this Monday (June 7) onwards. The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, made the announcement during the presentation of what will be the new hospital in Seville, a project into which the regional government has invested 11.5 million euros. "Andalusians will be the 1st Europeans to have a vaccination certificate with European validation," said Moreno, indicating that the first to receive the certificates will be those aged over 65 who...

MADRID — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party took a beating Sunday in an election in Andalusia that saw the far right win seats in one of the country’s regional parliaments for the first time in decades. The Socialists (PSOE) — which have ruled the southern region uninterrupted for 36 years — came in first but could lose their grip on power if parties on the right team up against them. Juanma Moreno — the local leader of the Popular Party — said as the results came in that he would try to replace the Socialists’ incumbent regional leader,...

In a videotape broadcast on American TV after 9-11, Osama bin Laden once referred to the tragedy of Andalusia, considered the greatest disaster in Muslim history before the re-birth of Israel. The subtitles conveniently forgot to note that Andalusia meant the Iberian Peninsula, and that Muslims want it back. Let the whole world know that we shall never accept that the tragedy of Andalusia would be repeated in Palestine. - Slate When I saw that videotape on TV in 2011, I nearly jumped out of my chair. As an amateur historian, I knew what was meant. I could not believe...

She is blonde, a conservative hardliner and has forged ahead in a sphere dominated by men, The Local gives you ten reasons why Esperanza Aguirre is Spain's answer to the Iron Lady. Fresh allegations of corruption within the Madrid branch of the Popular Party has led to Aguirre tendering her resignation as regional head of the party. At The Local we don't believe for a minute that this is the last we will see of a woman who puts personality into politics. The Local gives you ten reasons why Esperanza Aguirre is Spain's answer to the Iron Lady. 1 -...

“The fallacy that President Obama is a Muslim has tripped up many a politician,” said NPR’s Jessica Taylor hopefully on Friday, “and on Thursday night, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump was its latest victim.” Trump’s presumed faux pas was his failure to correct a questioner who asserted that Barack Obama was a Muslim. Taylor’s real error as a reporter, like that of all her mainstream colleagues, was to dismiss the questioner’s assertion as a “fallacy” without providing any evidence to the contrary. Strange but true, reporters pride themselves on knowing nothing about Obama’s roots. Last month, for instance, Catherine Thompson...

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Thursday during the 1 p.m. hour, CNN’s “Newsroom,” this exchange took place between CNN reporter Ali Velshi andTime Magazine’s deputy international editor Bobby Ghosh: VELSHI: The name Cordoba- some people are associating it with Muslim rule and bloody battles, when, in fact, Cordoba was one of the finest times in relations between the major religions. GHOSH: Exactly right- in interfaith discourse- VELSHI: Yeah- GHOSH: And the great mosque of Cordoba that people are talking about and that Newt Gingrich was talking about- the man who built it, the Muslim prince who built it, bought it from a Christian group- paid...

Hundreds of Egyptians demonstrated on Wednesday Jan. 2 in Safenex Square in Cairo to commemorate the 521st anniversary of the fall of Granada. The demonstration was called by The Free Movement (Harakat Ahrar). The protesters organized a human chain around the square and held signs that said: “Obligatory return”,”We have not forgotten Al Andalus” and “Of course we will return” … And they really mean it. Demonstrator: As we speak, in Islamic Andalusia, in Spain, they are marching to celebrate the fall of the Islamic state of Andalusia, or Spain. While they are celebrating, we here are upset, because the...

The Associated Press MADRID, Spain Sept. 18 — Police have arrested several suspects on orders of a Spanish judge who is investigating al-Qaida links, the government said Thursday, a day after he issued the first known indictment against Osama bin Laden in the Sept. 11 attacks. The Interior Ministry said the arrests were made in the southern region of Andalusia and elsewhere in Spain, but it gave no details. News agencies and the Web site of the El Pais newspaper said three men were detained and that they are linked to Tayssir Alouni, a journalist for the Arabic-language TV station...

A Wild Ass of a Man Posted on August 23, 2010 by billrandles The Ground Zero Mosque controversy has many dimensions, for example there are political aspects, and obviously religious tensions involved. The divide between left and right in this country has come up, and the rift between the “ruling elite” and the rest of the country has been highlighted through this conflict. But one aspect of this story has yet to be examined, to my knowledge. This involves the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. I believe that before our eyes a prophecy given in the book of Genesis is being...

Obama's Muslim World Address In Cairo Examined By WILLIAM MAYER and BEILA RABINOWITZ June 4, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a much anticipated speech delivered today in Cairo, Egypt, president Obama presented his administration's views on American foreign policy as it pertains to the Muslim world. The address itself [available here] provides the clearest insight yet into what changes the new administration is contemplating in dealing with what seems to be the two major points of contention between the Middle East and the West, the war on terror and continued U.S. support of Israel. The speech...

In his Cairo speech, Obama made the following statement: Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition Can anybody explain precisely what Obama was referring to? On first glance, it looks like a reference to the so-called ‘Golden Age’ in Al Andalus. During the Golden Age, Jews - and Christians - were subject to a certain degree of formal discrimination, but largely prospered. Life was certainly better than in places like England, where Jews were repeatedly massacred and ultimately expelled. That “golden” period definitively came to an end...

'We Arabs export two major things, oil and ouds," says a laughing Najib Shaheen, this city's most respected oud maker, restorer and dealer. The oud is a stringed Arab instrument that, after it was brought to Andalusian Spain in the eighth century, spawned the European lute, guitar and mandolin. Today's ouds are usually walnut or rosewood, and have a pear-shaped shell, a short neck with no frets -- allowing the musician a broader tonal range -- and typically one single bass and five double strings. When expertly plucked, the oud emits an earthy sound with a hint of melancholy, eliciting...

Note: Photos included. MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Spanish police Tuesday arrested a Spanish soldier and his Russian girlfriend for allegedly posting videos on the Internet promoting Islamic extremist views and calling for attacks in Spain, a Ministry of Interior statement said.

Madrid Court grants motion by Palestinian group to probe several senior defense officials for their involvement in 2002 hit on Hamas operative Salah Shehade; which left 14 dead, 100 wounded. Defense minister calls announcement 'delusional', says he will do all in his power to have charges dropped National Infrastructure Minister and former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and former IAF and IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz may face criminal charges in Spain for killing Palestinian civilians seven years ago. A Spanish court granted a petition by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights on Thursday, asking the two be investigated for...

This text is written in response to God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215 by David Levering Lewis, an American historian and two-time winner of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. In my opinion the book is largely a waste of money. This essay is not made to review the book as much as it is to refute it. It overlaps to some extent with the text The Truth About Islam in Europe, which I have published at the Brussels Journal before. Briefly summed up, God's Crucible laments the fact that Charles Martel, "the Hammer," halted the advancing Islamic Jihad...

U.S. Wary Of Small Boat Terrorism As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success." While the United States...

Islamic Spain: History's refrain It's a model for interfaith ties, and a warning about religious division. By Alexander Kronemer   Washington The past sometimes provides examples of glory and success that serve as models. Other times, as the philosopher George Santayana said, it warns of impending calamity for those who do not learn from it. For the past several years, I've been immersed in a history that does both. As one of the producers for an upcoming PBS documentary on the rise and fall of Islamic Spain, I've witnessed its amazing ascent and tragic fall countless times in the editing...

A number of Catholic lay organizations of Cordoba and southern Spain expressed their unreserved support for the decision on the part of Bishop Juan José Asenjo to refuse to bow to pressures from the Islamic Council of Spain to turn a church into a mosque. Part of the cathedral in Cordoba was a mosque many centuries ago, but for some 600 years it has been a place consecrated to Catholic worship and the Mass. Mansur Escudero, president of the Islamic Council, demanded in December 2006 that the cathedral be converted into a “multi-faith” centre where Muslims would conduct formal prayer...