Spanish Prime Minister claims Russia and Israel are involved in a wave of fake news amid the migration crisis in Ceuta

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that the mass influx of migrants into Ceuta in late July could have been provoked by disinformation spread by Russian and Israeli networks.

He stated this in an interview with Cadena SER radio station.

According to him, the fakes were built around distorting the decision of the Supreme Court of Spain on July 8 — false information was spread that migrants who enter Ceuta cannot be deported.

Sanchez said the fake news was being spread on social media "linked to both Russia and Israel, as well as to a far-right international organization that always uses the topic of migration not only to attack Spain but also Europe".

The Spanish Prime Minister emphasized that the investigation into the causes of the crisis is ongoing, so he is not claiming that a specific state is behind it.

"Unfortunately, we do not have a complete picture of what happened and we are continuing to investigate, but the government must act based on reliable facts," Sanchez said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denied Sanchezʼs accusations, saying the Spanish prime minister was "blatantly lying" after accusing him of spreading false information about Israel.

"This is a shameless lie. Spreading slander will not distract attention from Sanchezʼs shameful inability to manage the affairs of his country," Saar wrote on social media.

Russia also reacted to the Spanish Prime Ministerʼs statement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov briefly replied that Russia was not involved in the migration crisis in Ceuta.

• The Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla are the EUʼs only land borders with Africa. After a Supreme Court ruling that banned the immediate return of migrants caught at sea near the enclaves, Spain said smugglers and smugglers had stepped up illegal crossings.
• On July 30, about 60 000 migrants began to break into Ceuta en masse: some swam across the sea on car cameras, others broke through the border gates. A few days later, about 90% of them had already returned to Morocco. A similar crisis occurred in 2021, when almost 10 000 people reached Ceuta in a few days.

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