Free Republic

A banner reading “Destroy Israel” was unfurled during the opening ceremony of Spain’s annual St. Fermin Festival in Pamplona, drawing condemnation from Jewish organizations. Video circulating on social media showed the banner stretched above the crowd before the traditional chupinazo rocket launch yesterday that marks the start of the weeklong St. Fermin Festival, known for its encierro (running of the bulls through the town square to the bullring). The banner featured the words “Destroy Israel” alongside an image of an Israeli flag crossed out. The initials “EHKS” appeared at the bottom of the banner, referring to a far-left socialist organization...

Spain's plan to grant legal residency and work rights to undocumented migrants will be the largest scheme of its kind in European history. There have been at least 1.3 million applications made, more than double the 500,000 the centre-Left coalition government expected. The deadline for applications is on Tuesday. Pedro Sánchez, Spain's prime minister, said the amnesty was an act of justice but also of necessity, to continue Spain's strong economic growth and safeguard public pensions by bringing younger workers into the country. It began on April 16 and by mid-June 360,000 people out of 900,000 applications had been granted...