Spanish prime minister points finger at Israel, Russia disinformation over Ceuta migrant crisis

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday accused Israel and Russia of spreading disinformation about Spain’s approach to migration, fueling this summer’s migrant crisis at the border of Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.

“After July 30 and 31, rumors and disinformation spread on social networks linked to Russia and Israel, and to an ultra-right international that always uses migration to attack both Spain and Europe and divide it,” Sánchez told Cadena Ser radio, Al Jazeera reported .

The prime minister cited research from the European Union’s European External Action Service as indicating that Israeli and Russian platforms have spread disinformation in collaboration with far-right networks, according to Reuters.

Sánchez said it was “evident” that both countries used the large, unprecedented influx of migrants to criticize his government in response to Madrid’s stances “regarding the genocide in Gaza or [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.”

More than 72,000 migrants entered Ceuta late last month at one of the few land borders shared between the EU and Africa, Reuters reported. Local authorities said that at least 100 people died in the aftermath.

Sánchez emphasized that the crisis in Ceuta “can only be resolved through cooperation and not through distrust towards Morocco.” He pledged to provide Ceuta with 168 million euros, or $195 million, in aid.

Israeli Foreign ‌Minister Gideon ⁠Sa’ar slammed Sánchez’s claim, accusing him of “lying shamelessly” on social media .

“This is a brazen lie,” Sa’ar continued. “Continuing to spread defamatory lies will not distract from Sánchez’s disgraceful failure to manage his country’s affairs.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin rejects the notion that Russia was involved in the crisis.

“No. Nothing to do with it,” Peskov said, according to Spanish outlet RTVE Noticias .

Spain’s Supreme Court has ruled that migrants stopped at sea as they attempted to reach Ceuta — or Melilla, another Spanish territory — cannot be sent back to Morocco. Spanish officials said 48,000 migrants have voluntarily returned to Morocco.

President Trump and Stephen Miller, the White House’s deputy chief of staff for policy, used the crisis to claim that the same thing could happen in the U.S.

“It’s terrible,” Trump told Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich in July. “Remember that picture. That’s going to be us in three years if the wrong side gets in. If the Democrats get in, you will not live a very good life.”