Is Spain being punished?

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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. In Ayoub’s view, the timing for such an operation was particularly ripe on account of the fraught relationship between the US and Spain, with the Spanish government having been annoyingly uncooperative in the US-Israel war on Iran. When the war was launched in late February, Spain denied the US use of its military bases. The following month, reports emerged that the US had suggested suspending Spain from NATO. Noting that the Abraham Accords had introduced a “framework for reconfiguring Middle Eastern and North African alliances in ways that serve American and Israeli interests simultaneously,” Ayoub wagered that “helping Morocco recover Ceuta and Melilla would serve that framework and punish a NATO member that has repeatedly chosen obstruction over partnership at the alliance’s most critical juncture.” In the very last sentence of his intervention, Ayoub arrived at the real reason for Israeli “help” to Morocco: “It is strategic investment in the partner that, across the Strait of Gibraltar, holds the key to one of the world’s most vital maritime chokepoints.” Whether Israel is indeed involved in this week’s events in Ceuta remains to be seen. But it suffices to recall that the country has never exactly shied away from underhanded meddling in other people’s affairs. For his part, US President Donald Trump utilised the “invasion” of Ceuta as proof of the Sanchez government’s incompetence – and as a warning of what will happen in the US if the Democrats are voted back into power: “It’s terrible. Remember that picture. That’s going to be us in three years if the wrong side gets in.” Israel would no doubt have preferred a slightly different takeaway from the US leader – perhaps one claiming strategic Ceuta to be Moroccan territory. But apparently the urge to engage in xenophobic fearmongering took precedence in Trump’s brain this time around. And as Israel continues bleating about Spain’s double standards and otherwise striving to shift the focus away from its own colonial atrocities and genocidal policy, it’s safe to say Israeli hypocrisy knows no borders. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. 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