Over 100 influencer accounts have circulated theories that Israel orchestrated the rush of Moroccan migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, according to the Combat Antisemitism Movement.
Online conspiracy theories proliferated after some 60,000 people swam and crossed on foot into Ceuta, a small Spanish city on the northern coast of Africa that borders Morocco. At least 88 migrants were killed in the breakdown of border controls, including some who drowned and died in a stampede. Most of the migrants had returned to Morocco by Sunday.
Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish city on the North African coast, are the only remaining European-held territories on Africa’s mainland. Morocco does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla and considers them to be occupied territories.
Bleak work prospects for young Moroccans and crackdowns on government critics, combined with confusion over a change in Spain’s border policy and an apparent loosening of patrols by Moroccan authorities, triggered the exodus to Ceuta last week.
A report from the Antisemitism Research Center, an arm of Combat Antisemitism, said Sunday that X was quickly flooded with posts attributing the border surge to Israel. The group analyzed 173 posts from 119 influencer accounts that racked up a total 57.5 million views.
The theories came from both right-wing and left-wing accounts inside and outside of Spain. Some focused on Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s sharp criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and Iran, arguing that Israel instigated the chaos in retaliation. Others blamed a global conspiracy of Jews working to destroy European societies from within through Muslim migration.
One post from the popular account “Forbidden HQ,” viewed 5.3 million times, showed a graphic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unleashing a stream of migrants from his mouth into Spain.
Other influencers have cited provocative posts from Israeli officials and pro-Israel voices. The far-right commentator Candace Owens resurfaced a 2019 post from Netanyahu’s son, Yair Netanyahu.
In a message to the Spanish people in 2019, Yair Netanyahu said, “Let’s make a deal, we won’t fund NGOs in your country calling you to give away Ceuta and Melilla, and you will *stop* funding NGOs in our country that calls us to give away Judea and Samaria.”
Podcast host Melissa Witte referenced a March article by Michael Rubin, a fellow at the right-wing Middle East Forum, that said “Moroccans should gather, send bulldozers to the border, and then enter Ceuta and Melilla unarmed to raise the flag.”
“They literally did plan this,” Witte said, referring to Israelis. “To include having their think-tanks argue for why Morocco taking Ceuta wouldn’t activate NATO.” The Middle East Forum is an American think tank.
Dan Bilzerian, a social media personality with a history of openly antisemitic rhetoric who is running as a Republican in an uphill battle against Rep. Randy Fine for Congress in Florida, suggested in an X post that Sánchez’s condemnation of Israel led to Spain being “flooded with thousands of Moroccan migrants.”
The Spanish and Moroccan governments have not accused Israel of involvement in the chaos at the border. Sánchez said Friday that human traffickers were to blame for exploiting a recent ruling in Spain’s Supreme Court that banned the immediate return of migrants intercepted at sea. Morocco’s Interior Ministry also said Sunday that the incident was fueled by smuggling networks, along with misinterpretations of the court ruling and misinformation on social media.
Pundits have also observed that the absence of Morocco’s border patrol could be a reaction to Sánchez’s recent official visit to Algeria, which supports independence for Western Sahara, a territory claimed by Morocco.
While Sánchez has not associated the breach with Israel, Spanish Transportation Minister Óscar Puente appeared to suggest that Israel bore some responsibility in response to a post on X by Danny Danon, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations.
“Spain, which never misses an opportunity to lecture Israel, has declared a state of emergency in Ceuta following the crisis over its immigration policy,” Danon said on X. “Maybe before it continues lecturing us, it’s time it explained to the world why it still maintains colonial enclaves in Africa.”
Puente responded in Spanish, “Well, things are starting to get pretty clear.”
Combat Antisemitism is a pro-Israel coalition that says that it “fights anti-Semitism wherever it occurs and across the ideological spectrum, including efforts to deny the Jewish people their right to self-determination in Israel.” Critics of the organization say that it stifles criticism of Israel by conflating it with antisemitism.
In 2023, two major U.S. Jewish groups exited Combat Antisemitism after it published a video that blamed rising antisemitism on “woke ideology.”
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