The background to the Ceuta events is that Israel is engaged in a counter-offensive against those states who are seen to be the main opposition to their genocidal and expansionist policies in Palestine and Southern Lebanon. These are, notably, in Europe Spain, and in Africa South Africa.
By Michael Wongsam
In Europe massive front page hysteria is being whipped up by the racist far right and mainstream governments around the fake “spontaneous” “immigrant incursion” into Ceuta, which is in fact an operation deliberately organised by the U.S., Israel and Morocco, in collaboration with European racists, and which shows the depths of cynicism and positions against the interests of the people of Europe taken by Israel and the far right in Europe.
Abundant videos and other materials show how this spontaneous “incursion” was physically organised by the Moroccan dictatorship to aid a campaign by the U.S. and Israel which is described in detail below.
The trigger for these events is that the Spanish government has strongly condemned Israel’s massacres in Gaza. Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu therefore made clear Israel would take action against Spain due to this, stating: “”I do not intend to allow any country to wage a diplomatic war against us without paying an immediate price.”
Yair Netanyahu, son of Benjamin Netanyahu, openly posted in advance on X what the nature of this action would be: “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.”
Spain has also refused to cooperate with the U.S. in its military attack on Iran, refusing to allow the U.S, to use the U.S. military bases in Spain, for example Naval Station Rota and Morón Air Base, to attack Iran. In summary Spain’s is the main government in Europe which has taken positions on some important questions independent of the U.S. and Israel.
Trump, has made quite clear, strongly, that the U.S. intended to take action against Spain because of this refusal to submit to U.S. policy.
On 3 March, standing beside German Chancellor Merz in the White House, Trump openly attacked Spain’s government for its criticism of the U.S. war against Iran and its refusal to allow the U.S to use U.S. military bases in Spain to attack Iran.
Trump declared this to be “unfriendly” and said he had directed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “cut off all dealings with Spain,” calling the country “unfriendly” and criticizing its leadership. “We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain,” he told reporters. “We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
Speaking alongside NATO Secretary General Rutte on 24 June, Trump declared, ““Spain is a horror show, Spain is terrible.” Rutte then immediately replied that Spain was an “isolated incident” within Europe, assuring Trump that the other European NATO members had provided logistical support for the U.S. in its attack on Iran. “I really want to emphasise this point, between 4,000 and 5,000 US aircraft took off from European air bases.”
The so called “refugee incursions” into Ceuta began exactly along the lines threatened by Israel. Videos show the so called “refugees” being trucked to the border regime by Moroccan lorries—Morocco is the most closely aligned state to Israel in North Africa. The so-called “refugees” crossed with no baggage whatever, and the great majority almost immediately returned to Morocco after crossing the border. In short, Morocco, the U.S. and Israel, actually created a supposed “immigrant incursion” so it could be exploited by the racists and far right in Europe against Spain’s government.
Once Morocco and the Western media had whipped up a frenzy around this “incursion” a number of what were probably genuine refugees then joined in leading to around 80 deaths as people attempted to swim to Ceuta. These were just as much collateral victims of the cynical manoeuvres of the U.S., Israel and the Moroccan dictatorship, as poor and desperate people from North Africa, Sudan, Syria and elsewhere have been used before, and as people continue to be killed every day in desperate attempts to escape from countries such as Libya that were wrecked by NATO attacks.
Trump and other U.S. government officials then immediately rushed to declare “I saw Spain yesterday, and I watched the catastrophe that took place. It was a — it looks like an invasion of a country” and blaming it on “weak law, bad management”. The “mainstream” European governments then whipped up hysteria around an incident they were perfectly well informed was fake in order to serve their own pro-Israel/pro-U.S. policy.
The background to the Ceuta events is that Israel is engaged in a counter-offensive against those states who are seen to be the main opposition to their genocidal and expansionist policies in Palestine and Southern Lebanon. These are, notably, in Europe Spain, and in Africa South Africa. In South Africa, whilst there is no smoking gun, it is strongly believed that there is Israeli support— including financial support—for the anti-migrant ‘March and March’ movement, and alignment with the white led secessionist forces in the Western Cape. See for instance “Israel’s Not So Hidden Hand In South Africa’s ‘March & March’ Chaos”. In the U.S., in line with this, the Trump administration has been supporting white South African racists by granting them entry into the U.S. as supposed refugees from anti-white discrimination.
As well as seeking to punish Spain for its government’s opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran, the U.S. is also concerned to stop African states growing economic, and other forms of co-operation, with China and Russia in North and West Africa.
In short Israel and the U.S. have both been carrying out hybrid warfare against the governments of both Spain and South Africa. The U.S., in particular, is determined to attempt to remove governments that oppose it on any significant policies. The entirely non-spontaneous events around Ceuta are part of that.
China and Russia maintain good relations with both Morocco and Algeria and have to navigate the strained relations between Morocco and Algeria over Western Sahara. Morocco was attracted to sign the Abraham Accords in part, in addition to Morocco’s overall policy, by Trump’s offer to recognise Western Sahara as part of Morocco.
The U.S. is attempting to exploit this entire situation to its advantage. For instance, Algeria has been giving support to the Front de Libération de l’Azawad (FLA) in northern Mali, which calls for independence for the region, and recently broke off diplomatic relations with Mali following a border incident—these relations have since been restored under the urging of Putin and Lavrov. Additionally, the Polisario Front of the Western Sahara, fighting against Moroccan occupation, are suspected of providing support to both the FLA and the explicitly al-Qaeda affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).
While the troubled relations between Algeria and Mali were continuing, Morocco offered the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) a secure route to the Atlantic, overcoming their landlocked condition due to the hostility of many Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) members and the existing insecure route through Senegal. This has since become less of an issue following the improvement of relations between Burkina Faso and Togo, which gives them access to the port of Lome.
At the same time, the U.S. conducted a diplomatic offensive towards Mali, sending several diplomatic missions to conduct talks, but as these have produced very few concessions by Mali to U.S. demands, the U.S. has recently resorted to threatening to bomb Mali.
This is, therefore, a combined offensive against Spain by Israel and the U.S. in cooperation with the European racists and far right. The latter, while claiming to be against refugee “invasions”, and to be shocked by the events in Ceuta, in fact were very content to see this (fake) refugee “incursion” being organised by Morocco to serve the interests of Israel and the U.S. It further illustrates the degeneration produced by Zionism in its attempt to turn the Jewish community internationally, historically a bastion of opposition to not only antisemitism but all forms of racism, to collaboration with the racist, and actually deeply antisemitic, far right in Europe.
These events show how wrong it is to see various crises internationally (Gaza, Iran, European far right) as separate. They are in fact part of an integrated attempt by the U.S. and Israel to attack any force internationally standing up to their policies.
At present the most immediate task is to expose what is really occurring with the fake “refugee incursions” into Ceuta, to show the cynicism and anti-popular positions of the European racists and far right, and the collaboration being shown with them by the U.S., Israel and Western media. Strategically Spain needs to remove the specific opening for such activity by getting out of its enclaves in North Africa, Ceuta (whose proper name in Arabic is Sabta) and Melilla, which are remnants of Spanish colonialism.