Is Spain being punished?: Al Jazeera update

Published 1 August 2026 · politics

In the months leading up to the crisis in Ceuta, pro-Israel voices conspicuously raised the issue of the enclave. Earlier this week, at least 57

In the months leading up to the crisis in Ceuta, pro-Israel voices conspicuously raised the issue of the enclave. Earlier this week, at least 57 migrants died while trying to cross the border from Morocco into Ceuta, one of two Spanish enclaves located on the African mainland. In a span of just 24 hours, tens of thousands of people entered Ceuta in what Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez denounced as a “violation of territorial integrity”. Many of the migrants interviewed in news reports claimed they had been encouraged to undertake the journey by social media posts. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, wasted no time in taking to X to whine that “Spain, which never misses an opportunity to lecture Israel, has declared a state of emergency in Ceuta following the crisis over its immigration policy.” Indeed, the Sanchez government has been increasingly critical of Israel, labelling it a “genocidal state” and cancelling major arms deals accordingly. In 2024, Spain recognised the State of Palestine. Now, in the aftermath of the Ceuta episode, Israel – a country where hypocrisy might as well be declared an official state policy – has jumped at the chance to call the Spaniards out for alleged hypocritical behaviour. In his X post, Danon went on to argue that “maybe before [Spain] continues lecturing us, it’s time it explained to the world why it still maintains colonial enclaves in Africa.” Of course, you can’t get much more hypocritical than complaining about “colonial enclaves” when your own country is perpetrating not only a straight-up genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip but also a brutal colonial occupation that has given way to a de facto annexation of the West Bank.

Then again, Israel has never had a very good command of reason and logic, preferring instead to propagate an inverted reality according to which the Palestinians being slaughtered en masse are the terrorists and the people doing the slaughtering are the victims. Along with the enclave of Melilla, Ceuta is claimed by Morocco. And unlike Spain, Morocco is in good relations with Israel. In 2020, the country joined the Abraham Accords, becoming the fourth Arab nation to normalise relations with the Israelis through this agreement. In response to Danon’s tantrum on X, Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente wrote: “Well, everything is getting to be pretty clear” – presumably a reference to current speculations that Israel had a hand in the mass influx of migrants into Ceuta as punishment for Spain’s transgressions, which include opposition to genocide. The speculation has been fueled by public statements by Israeli officials and by pro-Israel commentators. In an article published in March, former Pentagon official Michael Rubin opined that “Moroccans should gather, send bulldozers to the border, and then enter Ceuta and Melilla unarmed to raise the [Moroccan] flag.” And in a dispatch for the Israeli Ynet News website, Amine Ayoub – a fellow at the neoconservative Middle East Forum – proposed that Israel should “help Morocco reclaim” Ceuta and Melilla.