Over July 30-31, some 60,000 migrants—mainly young men—swam and climbed their way from Morocco into Ceuta, a Spanish exclave on the African continent bordering Morocco, in an explosive mass migration that overwhelmed Spanish authorities and shocked the world.
So far, 67 migrants are known to have died in the process. Ceuta itself has a population of only about 85,000, and has a 30% unemployment rate. According to the Spanish government, nearly all of the migrants had been returned to Morocco within 48 hours, with the cooperation of Moroccan authorities.
There is clear evidence that this was a carefully orchestrated international operation, perhaps implemented through human trafficking networks, but designed with a strategic intent. Middle East Monitor, a London-based Muslim publication, published an article July 31 headlined “Ceuta crisis sparks online speculation over Israel’s role in pressuring Spain.”
The article notes: “The emergency in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta has sparked an intense online debate over Israel’s possible role in efforts to punish Madrid over its outspoken support for Palestine. The speculation intensified after social media users resurfaced articles published earlier this year by pro-Israel analysts who argued that Israel and the US should aid Morocco over its claim to Ceuta and Melilla as a means of pressuring Spain.”
One of the articles in question was a March 16, 2026 piece written by Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the neocon American Enterprise Institute, which urged Morocco to forcefully take Ceuta. “Moroccans should gather, send bulldozers to the border, and then enter Ceuta and Melilla unarmed to raise the flag.” Rubin, a former Pentagon official and who also previously worked at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), frequently writes in defense of Israel and a tight U.S.-Israeli relationship.
Middle East Monitor continued: “A separate article published by the Israeli outlet Ynet in April recommended that Israel could use its influence in Washington to help Morocco ‘recover’ Ceuta and Melilla. The author, Middle East Forum fellow Amine Ayoub, presented support for Rabat’s territorial claim as a means of punishing Spain for challenging US and Israeli policies. Social media users also shared a 2019 tweet by Yair Netenyahu the son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu.”
That 2019 tweet by Netanyahu’s son contained a map of Ceuta and Melilla, saying, “Dear Arabs and Muslims. Want to free occupied Arab Islamic lands? Here’s a good start!”
A similar evaluation came from Mexican strategic analyst and YouTuber Alfredo Jalife, who has a very large international following, who wrote: “From the strategic standpoint, Ceuta houses a military base and controls one of the most important routes of maritime traffic on a world scale: the Gibraltar Strait… Morocco is a signatory to the polemical Abraham Accords, promoted by Trump, which recognize Israel.”
Jalife continued: Will the great alliance that is now visible between the United Kingdom, Israel, the United States and Morocco lead to the control of the Strait of Gibraltar by Rabat’s capture of Ceuta and Melilla?… One can’t ignore the fact that the Middle East—of which Morocco is a part—could be exhibiting a crisis in yet another of its ‘chokepoints,’ when a hypothetical closing of the Strait of Gibraltar would be added to the closures of the Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb, and the possible closing of the Bosphorus (Black Sea): where there are extensions of the increasingly fused wars of Ukraine against Russia and of Israel and the United States against Iran.”
