Israel Matzav

Spain's demolition derby

This past week, I reported that the Spanish government is paying for 42 'activists' to come to Israel and rebuild two 'Palestinian' homes that were demolished for being built without a permit. That act is richer in hypocrisy than even I expected says Soeren Kern at PJ Media.

The Zapatero government recently unveiled a €5 billion plan to demolish thousands of illegally built coastal homes and hotels. The Spanish Environment Ministry says it wants to protect Mediterranean and Canary Island shorelines. By some estimates, there could be as many as 100,000 houses in Spain that have been built illegally. Homes built illegally after the 1980s, when laws to protect the coast came into force, face demolition with no compensation.

Consider the case of Len and Helen Prior, a British retired couple, who were singled out as the first victims of Zapatero’s demolition derby. Their home in southern Spain was demolished as illegal in January 2008, although it was subsequently discovered that they actually did have a valid building permit. The couple is currently sleeping in their garage with no electricity or running water while their case works its way through Spain’s languid court system. But the Zapatero government has not taken any interest in their case, perhaps because there are no political points to be scored for helping them.

...

Of course, Spaniards would be outraged if the Israeli government dispatched activists to rebuild the six dwellings in the Madrid district of Las Mimbreras that were deemed illegal and torn down in July 2009. Or the dozens of illegal homes that have been torn down in the La Cañada Real district of Madrid during the last two years. Or the homes of 236 families that were levelled in the El Salobral district of Madrid in December 2007 in order to build an industrial area.

But as was noted in my post last week, Spain is contributing a lot of money to a lot of anti-Israel causes. You can probably guess why, but read the whole thing to find out.

The picture at the top is a bulldozer demolishing the English couple's retirement villa on the Spanish coast.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:57 AM