As tens of thousands of people from Morocco stormed into Spain’s Ceuta two weeks ago, this city and Melilla have become the center of a migration crisis, reviving geopolitical tensions while highlighting a crossroads of Jewish history and culture, wrote Spanish Jewish journalist Elias Levy Benarroch, in The Jerusalem Post.
The images shocked Europe and prompted Madrid to deploy additional security forces. But for residents of Ceuta and Melilla, the events represented something deeper than another migration emergency. They revived long-standing fears about the vulnerability of Spain’s only two cities on the African continent.
Ceuta and Melilla are not just Spain’s southern frontier with Morocco. They are also home to one of the oldest and most significant Jewish communities in Africa.
With a combined population of just 170,000 people, Ceuta and Melilla are home to approximately 1,600–2,000 Jews—more than the vast majority of African countries.
Together, the two Spanish cities have roughly as many Jews as the entire Kingdom of Morocco, a country of nearly 39 million inhabitants.
The Jewish communities of Ceuta and Melilla are centuries old. They are not newcomers or historical curiosities, but an integral part of the history, identity, and civic life of both Spanish cities.
These Spanish Jewish citizens have deep family, cultural, and religious ties with Jewish communities throughout Spain and with many families in Israel.
‘’The security of Ceuta and Melilla is not an abstract geopolitical issue. It is about protecting Spanish citizens, defending Spain’s sovereignty, and safeguarding a historic Jewish community that has been part of the social fabric of both cities for generations,’’ says pro-Israel advocacy group ACOM.
As Levy Benarroch writes, although today the community numbers around 1,000 people, Melilla remains one of Spain’s most vibrant Jewish centers outside Madrid and Barcelona
Among them rises the elegant Or Zaruah Synagogue, completed in 1925 in the Neo-Mudéjar style by Enrique Nieto, one of Antoni Gaudí’s best-known disciples. It remains one of the architectural jewels of the city and an active center of Jewish life.
Melilla’s modern Jewish community flourished after the Hispano-Moroccan War of 1859-1860, when Jews from northern Morocco settled in the expanding Spanish port. By World War II, the city was home to nearly 7,000 Jews and 26 synagogues – more than the combined number of churches and mosques at the time.
Its history is also linked to one of the most painful episodes of Moroccan Jewry.
According to the Mem Guimel Cultural Association, the Egoz – the clandestine vessel that carried Moroccan Jews toward Israel – departed first from Melilla before sailing to Al Hoceima to collect emigrants. The boat sank on the night of January 10-11, 1961, killing 44 people, including 43 Jews seeking to reach Israel. Today, Mem Guimel preserves their memory.
Ceuta crisis fuelled Israel conspiracy theories
Actor Javier Bardem and others helped spread anti-Israel narratives across social media after the deadly border breach, drawing accusations of antisemitic incitement, wrote Cnaan Lidor in JNS.
The theory reposted by Bardem—a vocal champion of the Palestinian cause who’s publicly accused Israel of committing genocide—blamed Israel, implying it somehow orchestrated the invasion 3,200 miles away from its territory to punish Spain’s government for its anti-Israel policies.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called Bardem’s repost a “laughable new blood libel by another dim-witted actor,” and described Bardem as “‘Dumb & Dumber’ rolled into one person,” referring to the 1994 comedy film starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels.
Yet the posts and reposts of conspiracy theories about Ceuta by anti-Israel individuals spread like wildfire, often accompanied by antisemitic rhetoric, demonstrating the demand for this type of content.
One post shared by Bardem on Instagram, where he has 1.5 million followers, was a monologue by Indian comedian Sundeep Bhardwaj saying: “If you’re wondering what does the United States or Israel have to do with this: As usual, everything. Spain is the only country that has publicly declined to help the United States and Israel commit their genocide in Palestine. So, in the last year, Israel has been openly threatening Spain.”
Another reshared post by Bardem read: “We don’t know who engineered this crisis, but we know who benefits from a weakened, destabilized Spain: Israel, and the Western far right eager to turn migration into a weapon against Muslims.”
The conspiracies didn’t end with Bardem. Spanish Transportation Minister Oscar Puente retweeted a comment on the Ceuta invasion by Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, writing of Danon’s comments: “Well, things are starting to get pretty clear.” Danon had written that “maybe before it continues lecturing us, it’s time [Spain] explained to the world why it still maintains colonial enclaves in Africa.”
The U.S.-based Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) found that 119 influencer accounts were responsible for 173 posts that peddled a “global antisemitic conspiracy,” as CAM called it, in connection with the Ceuta crisis. The posts generated 57.5 million views with an estimated reach of 103.1 million viewers, 1.9 million likes, and 368,400 shares in two days.