Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has a convenient explanation for the 70,000 migrants who swamped Spain's enclave of Ceuta in a single weekend: it's Russia and Israel's fault. The real disinformation is pretending open borders work.
Between July 30 and 31, more than 70,000 migrants crossed illegally from Morocco into Ceuta, a tiny Spanish territory on the North African coast and one of the European Union's only two land borders with Africa. At least 100 people died trying, according to Ceuta's local authorities. The surge overwhelmed the enclave and ignited a political firestorm — but Sanchez insists the culprit isn't his government's migration policy. It's foreign bogeymen spreading "disinformation" on social media.
Sanchez told Cadena Ser radio that research by the EU's diplomatic service, the European External Action Service, indicated Russian and Israeli networks had spread disinformation in conjunction with far-right groups. He claimed both countries used the crisis to punish Madrid for its positions on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. He offered no evidence beyond the EEAS attribution. Israel's Foreign Ministry, Russia's Embassy in Spain, and the EEAS all declined to comment.
The supposed mechanism: videos on Instagram and TikTok falsely claimed migrants reaching Ceuta by sea could remain in Spain, encouraging thousands to attempt the crossing. Maybe so — but the videos only worked because Sanchez's policies made the claim credible enough to act on.
Meanwhile, Sanchez gave Morocco a full pass. "No intelligence service with which the Spanish government normally cooperates sheds any doubt... about the involvement of the Moroccan authorities," he said. Spanish opposition parties and human rights groups have accused Rabat of deliberately engineering the crossing. Morocco denies it. Breitbart reported that 82.2 percent of Spanish voters in a Sigma Dos survey believe the Sanchez government "has not done enough" — a number that speaks for itself.
On the ground, the crisis is far from over. Between 1,500 and 5,000 migrants remain in Ceuta — sources vary — including roughly 1,200 minors. Residents clash with police near-daily. Migrants sleeping on beaches have had their belongings burned. On Sunday, three Moroccan citizens were arrested for hurling bottles filled with corrosive liquids at an army patrol, according to EFE.
Sanchez's answer? Cash. He announced an additional €168 million in emergency funds — roughly 8% of Ceuta's GDP — on top of €180 million pledged the week before. The conservative People's Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo accused the government of doing "nothing to avoid the invasion" and "nothing to stop the public order crisis." Vox leader Santiago Abascal called it "an invasion and an act of war promoted by Morocco and allowed by Sánchez."
The Guardian framed Sanchez's Morocco exoneration as measured statesmanship, quoting his call for "cooperation, not lack of trust." Breitbart framed it as a socialist leader deflecting blame. The truth needs no spin: 70,000 people walked in, over 100 died, and the man in charge is pointing at everyone but himself.
The playbook is familiar. When open-border policies produce exactly the chaos critics predicted, the establishment's first move is to blame foreign disinformation — not the disinformation that borders can stay open without consequence.
