{"id":667817,"date":"2026-01-01T23:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T23:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/667817\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T23:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T23:39:14","slug":"the-blogs-from-al-andalus-to-the-inquisition-spains-lessons-mislearned-michael-savvakis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/667817\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blogs: From al-Andalus to the Inquisition: Spain\u2019s Lessons Mislearned | Michael Savvakis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since Hamas\u2019 terrorist massacre on October 7, 2023, antisemitism has surged worldwide. Spain has been a particular flashpoint. The Observatory of Antisemitism reported<\/a> a 321% rise in antisemitic incidents in 2024. At Madrid\u2019s Complutense University, banners<\/a> equated Zionism with Nazism; Israeli tourists were chased from a Vigo restaurant to shouts<\/a> of \u201cGet out of here\u2026I\u2019m at your service, Nasrallah.\u201d Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez lamented<\/a> that Spain \u201cdoesn\u2019t have nuclear bombs\u201d to stop Israel\u2019s war, while MP Gabriel Rufi\u00e1n likened<\/a> Gaza to Auschwitz.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tPro-Palestine protests in Madrid, Spain (Photo: Barcex \/ Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)<\/p>\n

Criticism of Israel is legitimate; demonisation and double standards are not. Spain\u2019s rhetoric echoes old patterns of scapegoating Jews rather than confronting radical ideologies that threaten its own society.\n<\/p>\n

In 711 CE, Islamic conquests spanned from North Africa to Spain, slaughtering civilians and enslaving thousands. The Chronicle of 754<\/a> and early Muslim historian Ibn Abd al-Hakam<\/a> record atrocities, including captives mutilated or cooked alive to terrorise others. Despite the modern myth<\/a> of \u201ctolerant Muslim Spain,\u201d Jews and Christians were treated as second-class dhimmis, forced to pay a humiliating tax and forbidden basic dignity. In 1066, Muslim rioters massacred<\/a> around 4,000 Jews in Granada because a Muslim ruler put his Jewish friend in a position with authority over Muslims. Historically, jihadis viewed<\/a> European women as beautiful but promiscuous, and as such, the lust for European concubines became a massive motive<\/a> for jihad. At the time of Muslim Spain, Franc and Galician concubines were difficult to obtain and so al-Andalus, having been conquered by Islamists and filled with vulnerable white women, became a massive sex slave hub<\/a>. There white girls would be sold into slavery and tortured or killed if they refused their master\u2019s advances.\n<\/p>\n

As the caliphate fractured, Christian kingdoms in the north reconquered territory, scoring a massive victory at Las Navas de Tolosa<\/a> (1212), and eventually retook Spain. Christian rulers initially allowed religious freedom, but Islamists launched multiple uprisings, impaling and decapitating Christians, and collaborated with foreign Islamic powers. After crushing another jihadist uprising in 1499, the Christians figured that as long as the Muslims followed Islam, they would always try to overthrow non-Muslim rule. In this context, Christians announced<\/a> the 1501 edict saying Muslims had to leave Spain or, since atheism did not exist then, become Christians. Overnight hundreds of thousands of Muslims pretended to \u201cconvert\u201d to Christianity, under the Islamic teaching of taqiyya as noted<\/a> by a Muslim chronicler. The Christians caught on, causing them to become stricter and harsher, leading to the Spanish Inquisition.\n<\/p>\n

Tragically, Jews\u2014who posed no such threat\u2014were swept<\/a> up in the paranoia. Thousands were tortured or expelled on suspicion of insincere conversion. Centuries of warfare with Islamists had hardened Christian rulers, but the Inquisition turned that mistrust inward, branding Jews and converts as enemies within.\n<\/p>\n

Today, Spain prosecutes citizens for \u201cIslamophobia,\u201d even when they criticise Islamist violence. Father Custodio Ballester, for example, faces<\/a> up to three years imprisonment for warning<\/a> that dialogue between Christians and violent Islamist ideologies is futile. Ironically, a spokesperson of the organisation which sparked the charges reportedly praised<\/a> the Taliban\u2019s takeover of Afghanistan.\n<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Islamist extremism remains a real challenge. Spain\u2019s Muslim population has grown<\/a> tenfold in thirty years to over 2.5 million; the majority are peaceful, but radicalised minorities have caused problems<\/a>. The Gatestone Institution has documented<\/a> the problem of Islamist crimes in Spain, ranging from sexual assaults<\/a> to terrorism<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

An interesting anecdote are the multiple jihadist attacks on Spanish churches. A poster with the label \u201cLet\u2019s slaughter\u201d, picturing a terrorist and Spanish cathedral was shared<\/a> with incitement to spread fear into unbelievers. In one instance, a jihadi screaming \u201cAllah!\u201d attacked<\/a> a church, murdering a sacristan and injuring a priest and three others. In another incident police arrested<\/a> four minor Moroccan migrants planning a church attack. Another time, a 26-year-old was arrested<\/a> for bursting into a basilica and shouting Islamic slogans.\n<\/p>\n

When reading such reports, it\u2019s hard not to recall what jihadists in al-Andalus did, such as the emir of Cordoba, Abd al-Rahman, who pulled<\/a> all the churches down. Or think of the caliph al-Mansur, a supposed<\/a> \u201cnotorious burner of\u2026churches.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Further, many of the radical pro-Palestine Islamists dedicated to Israel\u2019s destruction also have ambition for Spain\u2019s territory. An Egyptian Islamist scholar said<\/a> jihadists will take back al-Andalus from Spain just like they will take back Palestine from the Zionists. Hamas officials<\/a> and Palestinian radicals<\/a> have expressed desire for a global Islamic caliphate to conquer the world, including Spain. Former Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi said<\/a> some of his Hamas captors desired to not only crush Israel, but create an Islamic empire that would make the world Muslim.\n<\/p>\n

Despite this, Spain\u2019s political class focuses on silencing \u201cIslamophobia\u201d and rewarding such Islamists with recognition<\/a> of a Palestinian state, while antisemitic incidents multiply, fuelled by state rhetoric portraying Israel as a colonial aggressor. This is not surprising however, when one considers the many European nations who have appeased Islamists while harshly criticising Israel. Multiple researchers<\/a> on Islamism have shown<\/a> that despite the mass crime committed by jihadists, numerous European authorities have sought to appease radicals at the expense of their people.\n<\/p>\n

A clear example is Britain which has suffered from Islamic extremism as seen in terrorism<\/a> and the controversial grooming gangs<\/a>, some of which were covered up<\/a> by authorities due to fear of being labelled \u2018Islamophobes\u2019. On top of this, Britain, like Spain, recognised<\/a> a Palestinian state, betraying their ally Israel, while Hamas celebrated<\/a> it as a fruit of Oct 7.\n<\/p>\n

The historian Alan G. Jamieson summarizes<\/a> the situation:
\u201cAt a time when the military superiority of the West\u2013meaning chiefly the USA\u2013over the Muslim world has never been greater, Western countries feel insecure in the face of the activities of Islamic terrorists\u2026.In all the long centuries of Christian-Muslim conflict, never has the military imbalance between the two sides been greater, yet the dominant West can apparently derive no comfort from that fact.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

From resisting jihadist conquest but succumbing to antisemitic paranoia centuries ago, to repeating the same mistake by appeasing modern Islamists while vilifying Jews, Spain is following a similar pattern to much of Europe. Civilisations fall not only through invasion but through moral confusion when they forget who their true enemies are.\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tMichael Savvakis is a writer and journalism and arts student majoring in philosophy and international relations, focusing on Islamic history, antisemitism, and Middle Eastern geopolitics.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since Hamas\u2019 terrorist massacre on October 7, 2023, antisemitism has surged worldwide. Spain has been a particular flashpoint.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-667817","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115822484721903130","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}