Spain's PM Says Russia and Israel Spread Disinformation on Ceuta Migrant Crisis

Sanchez Accuses Russia and Israel of Disinformation

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday that Russia and Israel both spread and amplified disinformation related to the mass entry of migrants into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta last month. Citing research by the European Union's foreign policy body, the European External Action Service (EEAS), Sanchez told Cadena Ser radio: "After July 30 and 31, there was a spread of rumours and disinformation, from social networks linked both to Russia and to Israel, and to an ultra-right international that always uses migration not only to attack Spain, but also to attack Europe and divide it."

Sanchez said it was "evident" that the two countries had used the crisis to criticize the Spanish government, as they were at odds with Madrid over its position on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The remarks come a month after over 72,000 migrants surged into Ceuta, sparking tensions within the European Union and fueling anti-immigration rhetoric among far-right parties worldwide, according to a report by the Jerusalem Post. At least 96 people died in the attempt to reach European soil, the report added.

Morocco Exonerated

The prime minister also ruled out any responsibility on the part of the Moroccan authorities in the sudden influx of migrants who arrived in the Spanish territory. "No intelligence service with which the Spanish government normally cooperates sheds any doubt, or rather, suggests any doubt, about the involvement in one way or another of the Moroccan authorities," he said, as reported by France 24. The vast majority of the roughly 70,000 people who entered Ceuta have since been returned to Morocco, according to Spanish authorities.

Antisemitic Conspiracies on Social Media

In a separate development, CAM's Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) monitored 173 high-impact posts published by 119 influencer accounts in the three days after more than 50,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta from Morocco on July 30. Together, the posts generated 5 million views, 9 million likes, and 368,400 shares, with an estimated reach of 1 million, according to a report by the Jerusalem Post. The dominant explanatory frame on X was not Spanish law, Moroccan policy, or European immigration issues, but rather conspiratorial antisemitic tropes casting Israel and the Jewish people as architects of a plot to destabilize Europe.

CAM CEO Sacha Roytman said: "A humanitarian emergency at Europe's border was turned into a global antisemitic campaign in under 72 hours, and X did nothing to slow it down." He added: "This is not a story about a few bad actors. It is a story about a platform whose design rewards the fastest and most inflammatory explanation available, and on X that explanation is increasingly a Jewish conspiracy."

The reports come amid heightened scrutiny of social media's role in spreading misinformation during crises, and the Spanish government's efforts to counter disinformation targeting its policies.