{"id":1340,"date":"2026-08-05T07:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T07:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=1340"},"modified":"2026-08-05T07:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T07:08:14","slug":"the-scramble-for-ceuta-what-really-caused-last-weeks-invasion-of-the-spanish-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=1340","title":{"rendered":"The Scramble for Ceuta: What Really Caused Last Week\u2019s Invasion of the Spanish City?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know who engineered this crisis,\u201d Javier Bardem said on Instagram, \u201cbut we know who benefits from a weakened, destabilized Spain: Israel and the Western far right eager to turn migration into a weapon against Muslims.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fresh from pontificating about the size of Donald Trump\u2019s manhood at Cannes, the Hollywood actor took aim at the Orange Man again last Friday, accusing him and his puppet master Netanyahu of pushing 50,000 Moroccans to enter the Spanish city of Ceuta, in scenes reminiscent of a terrifying big-budget movie. World War Z<\/em> or maybe, given the amphibious nature of the incursion, Saving Private Ryan<\/em>; perhaps a mixture of both. \u201cApocalyptic\u201d was not, for once, an exaggeration.<\/p>\n

Spain has been Europe\u2019s \u201cloudest voice\u201d against the US and Israel, Bardem said, and now she was being punished for her defiance. The migrants who entered Ceuta, most of them swimming around the huge fences that separate this tiny outpost of Europe from the vastness of Africa, were unwitting pawns in a high-stakes game whose real locus is the Middle East: Gaza, a Palestinian state, Iran, the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Spain has indeed been an annoying t\u00e1bano<\/em> (horsefly) biting the exposed flesh of the US and Israel. Its socialist Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez has strongly opposed the war with Iran, refusing to provide support in any form. He denied the US use of joint airbases at Rota and Mor\u00f3n and closed Spanish airspace to American planes, except in emergencies. He described Iran\u2019s religious government as \u201chateful\u201d and repressive but said it was possible to oppose it without backing an illegal war. S\u00e1nchez and his government have been no less resolute in their opposition to Israel\u2019s war with Gaza, which began in late 2023. That following May, Spain, Ireland, and Norway officially recognized the State of Palestine. Spain has accused Israel of genocide multiple times, halted arm sales, recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv, urged the EU to suspend its association agreement with Israel, and encouraged sporting and cultural boycotts.<\/p>\n

Realizing perhaps that he was in dangerous territory himself\u2014almost suggesting that mass migration can do really bad things to Western nations\u2014Bardem then executed a stunning about-turn. Migration isn\u2019t a weapon being used against Europeans by Africans. It\u2019s actually being used against Africans by Europeans<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cCeuta is in Africa, not Europe,\u201d he said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t an \u2018invasion\u2019 of the West. If anything, it\u2019s the reverse, given Morocco functions increasingly as a Western-aligned client state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phew.<\/p>\n

Squaring the circle decisively, Bardem concluded, \u201cThis has nothing to do with Islam \u2018invading\u2019 Europe, and everything to do with punishing the loudest European government still willing to call a genocide a genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to the posts, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called Bardem \u201canother dim-witted actor.\u201d<\/p>\n

You could be forgiven for knowing nothing at all about Ceuta; I\u2019ll admit I didn\u2019t know much myself. One of the last remaining fragments of Europe-in-Africa, the city was captured for the kingdom of Portugal in 1415 from the Marinid Dynasty that ruled much of the Maghreb, now modern-day Morocco. It became joint possession of the combined Spanish and Portuguese crowns in 1581 and then exclusively Spanish from 1668. Its importance in Spanish history is belied by its size (population: 84,000), not least of all because it was the stronghold from which General Francisco Franco began the military uprising that became the Spanish Civil War, saving the country the horrors of communist rule.<\/p>\n

A majority of Ceuta\u2019s population is European, but close to 40% are Arab-Berber Muslims. Since its independence from France in 1956, Morocco has never recognized Spain\u2019s sovereignty over Ceuta. Although Spain returned other colonial holdings to Morocco\u2014Tarfaya in 1958 and Ifni in 1969\u2014it has doggedly held on to Ceuta and Melilla to the east. A steady stream of migrants has flowed towards the two enclaves ever since, punctuated by the occasional crisis that has seen up to 10,000 migrants arrive on Spain\u2019s doorstep all at once. The last was in the spring of 2021.<\/p>\n

The idea that the latest crisis is a kind of punishment-beating for Spain, a drubbing handed down from Washington and Jerusalem, has gained wide currency on the internet. Rep. Thomas Massie, now cast in the mould of Trump-hating, anti-\u201cEpstein class\u201d rabble-rouser, pointed to a recent House bill (HR 8595) that he claimed, \u201cgreenlighted the transfer of Spanish territory to Morocco.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery Republican except me voted for it,\u201d he said, \u201cbut now THEY are acting shocked at the invasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis very recently passed House bill directs at least $40 million to Morocco with a wink and a nod, and encouragement that this land is theirs. Same bill gives $3.3 billion to Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

In two brief paragraphs, the bill does indeed direct $40 million to Morocco, and notes the \u201chistoric alliance between the United States and Morocco, as formalized in 1786 by the Moroccan-American Treaty of Peace and Friendship.\u201d It also includes a Committee note that \u201cthe Spanish-administered cities of Ceuta and Melilla are located in Moroccan territory and remain the subject of Morocco\u2019s longstanding claim,\u201d adding that the Committee \u201csupports efforts by the Secretary of State to encourage diplomatic engagement between Morocco and Spain on the future status of Ceuta and Melilla.\u201d The bill does also make provision for an extra $3.3 billion of aid to Israel. The bill has not yet been signed into law.<\/p>\n

Massie has since walked back his claims a little, but he still seems to be suggesting the bill had something to do with the incursion. Supporters and followers of the Kentucky Pinecone have been quick to join even more dots, and he\u2019s been happy for them to do so, so long as the shapes they draw make the Republican party, and by extension President Trump, look bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cTRANSLATION: CIA now actively subverting Moroccan regime\/government with Congressional approval,\u201d one anonymous poster wrote.<\/p>\n

Massie\u2019s response: the bullseye emoji.<\/p>\n

Matters haven\u2019t exactly been helped by the response of prominent Israelis and supporters of Israel on X, which has been crowing, to put it mildly. Evidence of guilt, many say; others, evidence of a perverse inability to shut the fuck up when you\u2019re already hated enough. Danny Danon, a prominent member of the Knesset, Tweeted, \u201cSpain, which never misses an opportunity to lecture Israel, has declared a state of emergency in Ceuta following the crisis over its immigration policy. Maybe before it continues lecturing us, it\u2019s time it explained to the world why it still maintains colonial enclaves in Africa.\u201d Danon was one of the principal advocates of transferring the entire population of Gaza to Europe, to bring about a permanent settlement to the \u201cPalestinian question.\u201d He wrote a Wall Street Journal<\/em> op-ed laying out the plan, in November 2023.<\/p>\n

The posts are too numerous to mention, but others include a picture of Spain divided in two, with one half labelled \u201cMorocco,\u201d the other \u201cSpain.\u201d The caption: \u201c2 States for 2 Nations. Living side by side. In peace and prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Older posts were also reheated. Candace Owens dug up a thread of posts by Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s son Yair from 2019 in which he seemed to suggest Israel has been actively funding attempts for the transfer of Ceuta and Melilla to Morocco. Netanyahu-Fr\u00e8re encouraged Arabs to turn their attention to Spain\u2019s \u201ccolonial\u201d possessions in North Africa if they actually wanted to liberate \u201coccupied\u201d lands. The real target of the posts, though, was Spaniards who support a two-state solution. \u201cLet\u2019s make a deal: we won\u2019t fund NGOs in your country calling you to give away Ceuta and Melilla, and you will *stop* funding NGOs in our country that call us to give away Judea and Samaria,\u201d he wrote. The implication, missed by most of those reading it, was that Israel wasn\u2019t<\/em> funding NGOs in Spain but could if it wanted to do what Spain is doing in Israel.<\/p>\n

More incriminating still, we were told, was a recent piece by the pro-Israel think tank Middle East Forum, written during the early days of the Iran War, in March. The author, Michael Rubin, said Spain\u2019s Prime Minister should \u201cmake good on his anti-colonial rhetoric and end [Spain\u2019s] occupation in Africa.\u201d The short piece called for Moroccans to flood Ceuta and Melilla and take them back by force.<\/p>\n

The rhetoric is charged, to say the least. \u201cMoroccans should gather, send bulldozers to the border, and then enter Ceuta and Melilla unarmed to raise the flag. S\u00e1nchez and the Spanish press bleat, but they have no grounds to act. Nor, for that matter, would NATO, even if Moroccan forces entered the towns to restore order and organize the dispatch of settlers across the Strait of Gibraltar and back to Spain.\u201d Rubin suggested an invasion of Ceuta and Melilla would not trigger Article V of the NATO treaty (mutual self-defense), so Spain should not come crying to daddy when she finds herself helpless against the sheer weight of Moroccans taking back what is rightfully theirs.<\/p>\n

Rubin, unsurprisingly, was among those gloating at last week\u2019s invasion. \u201cThe United States and Israel must impose sanctions on Spain if it uses any American or Israeli defense or police equipment against innocent Moroccans in occupied Ceuta,\u201d he tweeted, linking to an article he had written about how Spain, not Israel, is the real colonial power.<\/p>\n

Simpler explanations have been offered, including by Spain\u2019s own right wing. They blame the Spanish government for opening the doors and inviting anyone and everyone to come in. This is what leftist governments do across the West, and the effects are the same, whether we\u2019re talking about Justin Trudeau in Canada or Angela Merkel and her famous \u201cWir schaffen das!\u201d in 2015. In January of this year, the S\u00e1nchez government rammed through a royal decree, bypassing the usual protocol, to allow the legalization of half a million migrants in Spain. Many accused the government of wanting to buy votes to keep the resurgent right out of power, a charge that was strenuously accepted. \u201cOf course we want them to vote,\u201d Irene Montero, an MP in the leftist coalition, said at a campaign event. \u201cWe\u2019ve got papers, regularization now, and now we\u2019re going for nationality or changing the law so they can vote, of course.\u201d She even referenced the Great Replacement, the \u201cconspiracy theory\u201d that mass migration is being used to alter the demographics of Western nations for the purpose of social engineering. \u201cHopefully the replacement theory [is real],\u201d she said. \u201cHopefully we can sweep this country clean of fascists and racists with migrant people, working people\u2026 Of course I want replacement: replacement of fascists, of racists, of freeloaders\u2026\u201d It\u2019s now clear that as many as 1.3 million illegal immigrants have applied for the new scheme, almost triple the number S\u00e1nchez promised.<\/p>\n

Miguel Tellado, the Secretary General of Spain\u2019s People\u2019s Party, blamed S\u00e1nchez directly for Ceuta.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can be surprised that thousands of people want to enter a country that regularizes more than a million irregular immigrants overnight,\u201d\u00a0he wrote on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey come with the expectation that Pedro S\u00e1nchez will sooner rather than later turn them into Spanish citizens. Not only are we not stopping the avalanche, but we are sending the message that those who come soon will be able to become Spanish.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe person responsible for what is happening in Ceuta is the president of the government. One more reason to kick him out as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spain\u2019s Vox party, called for S\u00e1nchez to be prosecuted.<\/p>\n

The Spanish and Moroccan governments, by contrast, have both pointed the finger at people smugglers and social media. They claim smugglers took advantage of a recent Spanish Supreme Court ruling to convince tens of thousands of would-be Europeans that they could literally swim to freedom and a new life. At the end of June, the Court said deportations can only be fast-tracked for foreigners who arrive by land and attempt to overcome \u201cborder containment elements\u201d like fences and walls. Posts on social media encouraged the false belief that swimming round Ceuta\u2019s border, instead of climbing over it, would confer a special status on migrants that would make it easier for them to stay in Spain.<\/p>\n

\u201cMisinterpretations reinforced among some of those who wished to migrate the conviction that it was possible to avoid immediate return,\u201d\u00a0Moroccan officials said.<\/p>\n

The Spanish government has carefully avoided blaming the Moroccan government, but it\u2019s hard to believe the invasion took place without Rabat\u2019s prior knowledge at some level, given its scale. And the Moroccan government has its own reasons to use migration against Spain, reasons that have nothing to do with events far away in the Middle East. The previous crisis, in 2021, when about 10,000 migrants entered Ceuta, coincided with a period of tension with Morocco\u2019s main regional competitor, neighboring Algeria. Diplomatic relations broke down so seriously that the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline, passing through Algeria, via Morocco, to Spain, was turned off. The gas was pumped to Spain via a different pipeline, bypassing Morocco entirely and depriving her of income and influence. The direct trigger, though, appears to have been Spain\u2019s offer of medical treatment to the leader of the breakaway Polisario Front, which wants the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara, now largely annexed by Morocco, to be an independent state. The same regional tensions\u2014competition with Algeria, the uncertain status of Western Sahara\u2014converged again in the last two weeks. On 20 July, just ten days before the latest crisis, Pedro S\u00e1nchez made an official visit to Algeria and announced a major bilateral summit in the fall. S\u00e1nchez described Algeria as a \u201cstrategic partner\u201d and \u201cfriendly nation,\u201d compliments that were sure to anger Morocco. Three days later, Spain\u2019s parliamentary Justice Commission approved a proposal to make it easier for Sahrawis\u2014residents of Western Sahara\u2014born when Spain controlled the region to apply for Spanish citizenship.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot going on here\u2014geopolitics is a complicated business\u2014and already explanations have hardened into self-confirming narratives. As we know only too well in the internet age, people who\u2019ve made up their minds see only the facts they\u2019ve told the algorithm they want to see. But one thing, I think, is clear through the fog and the haze. The scramble for Ceuta is part of a much larger scramble that\u2019s taking place and will take place in the coming years and decades, as huge numbers of people, driven by the promise of a better life, move north into Europe. Stephen Smith has called this the \u201cscramble for Europe,\u201d in a 2019 book of the same name.<\/p>\n

Africa, a continent that is still poor but already a demographic billionaire\u2014and will become a demographic multi-billionaire within thirty years\u2014is knocking on Europe\u2019s door. Not only is its population growing, but it is by far the youngest in the world. Between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, four Africans out of ten are less than fifteen years old, and seven out of ten are under thirty. The balance between the past and the future is heavily tilted towards the future. A growing number of these young Africans have the means and the informed view of the world that allow them to leave in search of a better life wherever the prospects are bright. And that better life is not just a reverie: they see it on satellite TV and the internet; they are partaking in modernity by \u201cscreen-shopping\u201d around the clock. Some of their brothers and sisters are already living in the Global North, where this virtual reality is reality tout court. So the most audacious or enterprising\u2014sometimes the least stable as well\u2014will head out to Europe, the closest emporium (and sometimes their former imperial metropole).<\/p>\n

As Smith demonstrates, the movement is inevitable. Millions, probably tens or even hundreds of millions, will come. Europe will have to find a way to deal with them. Smith\u2019s hope is that order can be maintained. Ceuta is an early indicator of just how na\u00efve that hope is likely to prove.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe don\u2019t know who engineered this crisis,\u201d Javier Bardem said on Instagram, \u201cbut we know who benefits from a weakened, destabilized Spain: Israel and the\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Scramble for Ceuta: What Really Caused Last Week\u2019s Invasion of the Spanish City? - Urban Economy news<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=1340\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Scramble for Ceuta: What Really Caused Last Week\u2019s Invasion of the Spanish City? 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