Not everything is wrong with Spain when it comes about the Jews.

One of the most notorious crimes committed against the Jewish people across History took place here in Spain: the 1492 Alhambra Decree, issued by the Catholic Monarchs, which obliged Spanish Jews to leave the country or to convert to Christianity. It is not exactly known how many had to leave or to convert involuntarily, but descendants of exiled Jews can now receive the Spanish citizenship through a shortener, expedited process.

The Spanish press about the Operation Pillar of Cloud (III).

An article was published by Público under the title Los bombardeos israelíes sobre Gaza se ceban con los niños (The Israeli bombings on Gaza hit the children) on Monday, November 19th, 2012. Such a suggestive title is embellished with another suggestive item: a photograph showing dead Palestinian children. It is explicitly told in the article that the Operation Pillar of Cloud is hitting Gazan children like the Operation Cast Lead did four years ago.

Such a politically motivated, irresponsible use of dead children by part of the Spanish press just sucks.

Meanwhile, Público reported that Lior Hayat, who works for the Israeli Embassy in Madrid, had to cancel a speech at the Carlos III University because his safety couldn't be granted due to the protests held by pro-Palestinian students.

The Spanish press about the Operation Pillar of Cloud (II).

On Tuesday, November 20th, 2012, El País published an article by Ana Carbajosa under the title El sur de Israel pide mano dura (Southern Israel asks for firm hand). This time we can read this:

"Running towards bomb shelters has almost been the only routine in Ashkelon during these days. Here, like in the rest of Southern Israel, life was broken last Wednesday, when the targeted killing of Hamas' military chief started an intense launching of Palestinian rockets. (...) [Ashkelon's] (...) 130,000 inhabitants have been living under the danger posed by rockets for years."

It's easy to observe an inherent contradiction within this paragraph. First it is written that the targeted killing of Ahmed Jabari "started an intense launching of Palestinian rockets" which made the life in Southern Israel to be "broken", when later it is written that Ashkelon residents have been being attacked  with rockets "for years". These two ideas are necessarily incompatible, being only the second the right one.

The Spanish press about the Operation Pillar of Cloud (I).

On Wednesday, November 14th, 2012, the Tzahal began the Operation Pillar of Cloud (also known as Pillar of Defense) through the targeted killing of Ahmed Jabari, who was a key member of Hamas' Izz ad-Din al Qassam Martyrs Brigades; this was in response to rocket and mortar attacks perpetrated by Hamas and other terrorist organizations based on the Gaza Strip during the last years. Israel has been targeting other locations since then, while Palestinian terrorists have been firing more rockets.

Spanish daily El País published an article by its correspondet in Jerusalem, Ana Carbajosa, on Sunday, November 18th, under the title El Ejército israelí golpea a la población civil de la franja de Gaza (The Israeli Army hits the Gaza strip's civilian population). The article contains the photograph of two Palestinian children killed; only in an annexed photogallery pictures of Israeli civilians under fire are also shown. The article also deals with the Israeli strike against a building used both by the press and Hamas itself, but omitting that this Palestinian terrorist organization was present there.

Meanwhile, online newspaper MÁSPúblico has published an article on Monday, November 19th, under the title Los muertos de Gaza tienen nombre (The dead from Gaza have a name). At the moment of writing this article of my own, 84 names of Palestinians killed during the Operation Pillar of Cloud have already been published. MÁSPúblico's article reads that the list will be updated. Not a single Israeli civilian killed is named.

How to incite hatred against Israel even when it comes about the Netherlands.

On Monday, November 5th, 2012, El País published an article about the problems of the new Dutch coalition cabinet (composed of liberals and social democrats), under the title El Gobierno de centroizquierda holandés se estrena con un alza de costes sanitarios (The Dutch centre-left Government makes its debut with a rise in sanitary costs). In the second paragraph is written the following (translated as accurate as possible, between quotation marks):

"The last Dutch centre-right government (in minority), headed by [Mark] Rutte himself, had to hand over the demands made by the xenophobic leader, Geert Wilders, in exchange of his support in the Parliament, and aligning himself with Israel. That produced moments of major embarrasment for a country which has boasted about its tolerance. At the beginning of this year, for example, the Netherlands were the only E.U. member which rejected to address a report concerning the violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians."

One could ask Isabel Ferrer, the author of the article and El País' correspondet to The Hague, why being aligned with Israel prevents a sovereign State like the Netherlands to be still considered a tolerant country; specially when an A.D.L. report published in March 2012 shows that Spain is less tolerant than the Netherlands towards Jews by almost all indicators, as well as the most intolerant country (when compared to Poland, Russia, Germany, France, the U.K. and the United States) towards Jews and muslims, according to a Pew Research Center report published in 2008.