SPAIN’s Prime Minister has condemned an “attack on Spain's territorial integrity” as questions around the potential involvement of the US and Israel continue to mount.
Senior Spanish political figures have already pointed the finger towards Tel Aviv and Washington over the sudden and as-yet unexplained mass incursion of migrants into a Spanish enclave on the north African coast.
Some 60,000 people are believed to have crossed – apparently unimpeded by Moroccan border authorities – into Ceuta, a Spanish territory across the Mediterranean. More than 25,000 have already returned voluntarily, officials said.
Speculation is rife as to how such a great number of people apparently spontaneously managed to make their way across the guarded border, with some alleging foul play.
Claims that Morocco worked in concert with Israel and the US to stage the mass incursion have been made explicitly by Gabriel Rufián, the spokesperson for the Republican Left of Catalonia in the Spanish parliament’s lower house.
The Congress of Deputies member said: “The Moroccan dictatorship, in the service of the US and Israel, is once again blackmailing Spain and Europe this summer by turning its own people into disposable cannon fodder.
“Something that, instead of being the subject of partisan politicking, should be the subject of a cross-cutting state pact.”
His comments were echoed by Tesh Sidi, a spokesperson for Mas Madrid, left-wing party in the capital.
She said: “This is not a migration crisis, not by a long shot.
“It is a political decision by Morocco or its allies aimed at reminding us of their capacity for pressure in response to something they didn’t like and that Spain has done.”
The point has not been made explicitly higher up the ranks – with Sanchez’s words at a press conference on Friday perhaps deliberately vague – however, a minister in his government has indicted that the possibility of US and Israeli involvement is being considered.
In response to a comment about the crisis from Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Spain’s transport minister Oscar Puente said: “Well, things are starting to get pretty clear.”
Israel has done little to dispel the speculation, with national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, of the extremist Otzma Yehudit party, sending Sanchez a gloating message on social media hours after reports began to emerge about the mass incursion.
He tweeted: “My congratulations to the president [sic] of the government of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, for his profound commitment to welcoming immigration and ‘human diversity’.
“As someone who demonstrates great concern for Hamas and the residents of Gaza, I call on you to translate words into actions: open the doors of Spain and grant refuge to the residents of Gaza who seek to emigrate. This is an excellent opportunity to contribute a little more to Spain's ‘human diversity’.
Why would Morocco want to trigger a migration panic in Spain?
While it remains unclear whether the mass incursion was orchestrated from Tel Aviv, the Israeli government would have a clear motive – and a history in meddling in the affairs of other countries.
Firstly, Spain’s support for Gaza during the genocide – which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians – has provoked the ire of both America and Israel.
Donald Trump issued the country with a vague threat to the country, over its perceived lack of commitment to Nato, saying “they will learn” during a speech at the beginning of the month.
Morocco is a staunch ally of the US, its longest-standing friend on the international stage.
More controversially domestically, the country also instituted diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 but the two countries are thought to have enjoyed a secretive relationship since 1948.
Sanchez’s position is also weak. His Socialist Party is dogged by corruption allegations, with his brother David – a musician – recently barred from holding public office after being found of administrative misconduct a fortnight ago.
Others linked to the party, including Sanchez’s wife Begoña Gómez, are under investigation.
Putting the screws on him through the contentious issue of migration – Sanchez recently granted amnesty to 609,737 migrants without documents to bring them into the formal economy – could be viewed as politically expedient by his foreign critics.
It would also chime with the objectives of his domestic rivals, who have criticised the Socialists’ liberal approach to immigration.
But the weaponisation of thousands of people’s lives like this would undoubtedly be seen as a callous act, regardless of who bears responsibility.
Reports from the scene say that 18 people died making the crossing while others, including the very young, have sincerely prepared to make new lives for themselves in Spain.
Among them is 16-year-old Hadiya, who told El Pais, a Spanish newspaper, she had spent three hours paddling with an inner tube to cross from Morocco to Ceuta.
“I told my mother I was just going out for a walk at night with a friend,” she told the paper, adding that she was now looking for a phone to tell her mum she would not be coming back.
