More than 70,000 migrants poured into Ceuta. Scores died. Spain’s government is facing serious questions about how one of the worst migration disasters in the country’s history was allowed to happen.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has found someone else to talk about: Israel.
In an interview with Cadena SER on Monday, Sánchez accused Russian and Israeli networks of spreading disinformation surrounding the Ceuta crisis. He then went further, turning claims about online activity into an accusation against Israel itself and supplying a geopolitical motive for the alleged interference.
The problem is that no public evidence establishes that the Israeli state conducted such an operation.
That has not stopped the Spanish prime minister from putting the accusation into circulation.
And in a Europe already experiencing a serious resurgence of antisemitism, portraying Israel as a hidden force manipulating a European country’s internal affairs is not harmless political rhetoric. It hands antisemites another conspiracy narrative carrying the imprimatur of a European head of government.
From Israeli posts to “Israel”
Sánchez initially said rumors and disinformation after July 30 and 31 spread through social networks linked to Russia, Israel and the international far right.
Then his language changed.
“There were indeed Russian and Israeli networks that spread these falsehoods and that attacked the Government of Spain and European governments,” he said.
Then came the biggest leap.
“It is obvious that if Russia gets involved in disinformation on this question, or Israel also spreads disinformation criticising the Government of Spain, it will not be because they are worried about migration in Spain or in Europe, but because of the political positions we are maintaining, brave ones, I believe, regarding the genocide in Gaza or regarding Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Notice what happened.
Networks linked to Israel became “Israeli networks.” Then Israel itself became the actor, supposedly interfering because Sánchez had angered it over Gaza.
That is an extraordinary accusation for a prime minister to make.
Where is the evidence?
The EU publicly named Russia, not Israel
Sánchez cited an analysis by the European External Action Service as the basis for his claim.
But he produced no report, identified no Israeli network and offered no evidence connecting the activity to Israel’s government or intelligence services. Reuters reported that he provided no further details.
The European Union’s publicly available assessment is revealing.
At an August 6 European Commission briefing, officials discussed Russian channels, including state media and Russian government sponsored outlets, amplifying the Ceuta crisis.
Israel was not publicly named.
Detailed independent research into the misinformation that helped fuel the crisis points elsewhere as well.
Spanish fact checker Maldita.es analyzed 1,171 Arabic language Facebook posts concerning a distorted interpretation of a Spanish Supreme Court ruling.
On July 30, 215 posts appeared carrying identical wording suggesting migrants reaching Ceuta and Melilla by swimming could not immediately be expelled. Among the early accounts spreading that formulation was an anchor from Morocco’s public broadcaster with around 1.3 million Facebook followers.
No Israeli government operation was uncovered.
Israeli and pro Israel figures certainly joined the political battle afterward. Yair Netanyahu, Eli David and others publicly attacked Sánchez and promoted slogans including “All Eyes on Ceuta” and “Free Ceuta.”
But Israelis criticizing Sánchez openly under their own names is not evidence that the State of Israel secretly interfered in Spain.
That distinction should be obvious.
Sánchez blurred it anyway.
Israel blamed, Morocco cleared
There is another reason his accusation deserves scrutiny.
Sánchez simultaneously cleared Morocco.
“When people talk and speculate about the participation of Moroccan authorities, I deny this outright,” he said, describing Spanish cooperation with Morocco as “frankly positive.”
There is currently no proof that Morocco engineered the 2026 crossing, and it would be irresponsible to claim otherwise.
But Sánchez’s certainty is remarkable.
His government does not know exactly how a migration movement of this magnitude developed. Yet Morocco is categorically cleared while Israel is assigned a motive for covert interference without public evidence of Israeli state involvement.
Even Sánchez’s own political partners have questioned that logic.
Compromís deputy Alberto Ibáñez called it “not at all credible” to accuse Israel, Russia and the international reactionary right while excluding Morocco.
The opposition Partido Popular was less restrained. It called Sánchez’s explanation “conspiranoia.”
This is how antisemitic narratives get legitimacy
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called Sánchez’s allegation a “brazen lie” and accused him of “lying shamelessly.”
But the consequences extend beyond another diplomatic fight between Madrid and Jerusalem.
Antisemitic conspiracy theories have for generations portrayed Jews as a hidden force manipulating governments, media, migration and political events from behind the scenes.
Sánchez did not accuse Jews, and criticism of Israel is not inherently antisemitic.
But that does not absolve a prime minister of responsibility for the narratives he legitimizes.
He has accused the Jewish state of covertly interfering inside a European country, presented the motive as retaliation against Spain’s Gaza policy, and failed to produce public evidence tying the activity to the Israeli state.
Antisemites do not need Sánchez to mention Jews explicitly. They can take the allegation from there.
And they are receiving it during an already dangerous period.
Official Spanish statistics show recorded antisemitic incidents rose 86.5 percent in 2025, from 37 to 69. Online antisemitic hate offenses also increased sharply.
One Jewish resident of Ceuta, reacting earlier in August to theories blaming Israel for the crisis, captured the problem succinctly:
“There is nothing they don’t blame us for.”
Now Spain’s prime minister has given that atmosphere something much more valuable than another anonymous social media post: the authority of his office.
Sánchez owes Spain evidence, not another enemy
None of this means Israel should be immune from scrutiny.
If Sánchez possesses an EU assessment demonstrating a coordinated Israeli operation, he should release the evidence or explain precisely what it establishes.
If Israeli government involvement is proven, it should be reported.
But that evidence has not been made public.
What Spain has instead is a prime minister confronting an enormous domestic failure while pointing toward Israel, assigning it a secret role in the crisis and presenting its supposed motive as “obvious.”
Sánchez may believe this shifts attention away from the questions facing his own government.
But when a European leader turns an unproven accusation of covert Israeli interference into political fact, he does more than dodge those questions.
He gives one of Europe’s oldest forms of prejudice fresh material to work with.
