Robin Gill

@CraigMurrayOrg Perhaps but there are more important issues than sovereignity.

I am opposed to UK possession of Gibraltar, just as I am opposed to Spanish possession of Ceuta. A consistency apparently incomprehensible to you. Both are colonial legacies.

@zriboua There are still a lot of unanswered questions

In the West the Islamists are saying that it’s a Zionist plot, in Morocco the Islamists are saying that our Zionist evil government is going after people and "poor migrants." Obvious op.

@zriboua One of my workmates from Al Hoceima tells me he knows of a Moroccan lad with Spanish nationality who entered Ceuta. Next day he was back on the beach

Merci Bruno, mais ce n’est pas vraiment ce que j’essaie d’expliquer. Le problème de Ceuta est évidemment multidimensionnel : il y a les enjeux de sécurité, mais il existe un autre problème, beaucoup moins visible. Un nombre important de ces jeunes sont sincèrement convaincus que leur pays n’a aucun avenir. On l’entend dans leurs propres témoignages. Ce n’est souvent qu’après leur retour de Ceuta, confrontés à la réalité, qu’ils disent s’être trompés et vouloir rester au Maroc. Cette mentalité ne s’est pas installée spontanément. Quelqu’un a préparé le terrain. Tous ceux qui suivent la politique marocaine savent que, depuis des années, les mouvements islamistes entretiennent un discours de démoralisation, présentant le Maroc comme un pays sans perspective. Ce n’est pas un hasard si le Parti Al Andalous est implanté en Espagne, ni si ce discours trouve un écho particulier dans le nord du Maroc, où plusieurs mouvements de contestation ont émergé, notamment antisémites. C’est avant tout une question politique et culturelle que le Maroc devra affronter, d’autant plus à l’approche des élections importantes prévues en septembre.

@zriboua I understand the macro arguments but is there any hard evidence to show who was behind Thursday's events? 50000 don't just suddenly find themselves on the border and it seems border control on the Moroccan side was all but suspended.

@sidlowe They're digging tunnels from Ceuta

I really can’t be bothered to be dragged into this, but I do wonder which routes she has in mind

@AdaLluch They cost a packet to maintain. Getting rid of them would save a lot of cash and headaches.

I’m sorry, but why would any other country but Spain decide about Spanish territory? Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish cities. The Spanish people should be the ones deciding what we want to do with them. Spoiler: they will remain being part of Spain!

@Trustintrump47 A bit daft because the balance of trade is in the US' favour.

**INTERNATIONAL BOMBSHELL!** Trump has just completely severed all commercial and official relations with Spain. The President of the United States has described Spain as “a hopeless, pathetic, and terrible NATO partner” and has ordered in no uncertain terms: “I want absolutely nothing to do with Spain. Shut down all trade, cut off all visits, and isolate this government completely.” For the first time in decades, the world's leading power has turned its back on the Spanish Government and is treating it as an unbearable burden.

@MarioNawfal Most never intended to go to Europe. This seems like an internal Moroccan thing. An Islamist challenge to the government. The result being preseure on the Moroccan government for not doing its job of border control.

🇲🇦🇪🇸 Most of the tens of thousands who rushed into Ceuta this week are already heading back to Morocco. Returnees told Reuters they were drawn in by viral videos promising easy access to Europe, only to find shuttered shops, no food, sky-high prices, and no way to reach the mainland. One man from Fez said he survived 3 days on water alone. Others described the enclave as “like a prison.” Hunger, exhaustion and local hostility broke the momentum fast. Of the 50–60 thousand who crossed, the vast majority have left within 72 hours. The "dream" seemed to collapse the moment it met reality on the ground. Source: Reuters / Writer: Lucas

@MarioNawfal It's Morocco pressurising Spain by showing it can stop controlling the border whenevr it wants. There are precedents. Thousands of teenagers in beach gear are not looking to migrate to Europe but to run around for a day in what's officialyy another country.

🇪🇸🇲🇦 Reuters with the RIDICULOUS soft spin after the blatant invasion by Moroccans in Ceuta, Spain : “Many migrants… hopes of a new life in Europe crushed by hunger and hostility.” BROTHER, STOP! This was 50-60k mostly young Moroccan men who saw social media posts claiming the border was “open” after a court ruling, then rushed Ceuta in a coordinated wave orchestrated by who-knows-who. Swam, jumped fences, flooded a city of 84k. Hard to sell the 'fleeing war' story now, am I right? Opportunistic mass attempt. When the free food and easy path didn’t appear, most turned around in under 48h. Reuters and the rest of the mainstream media just won’t say it because they're so deep in the "migration=rainbow" rabbit hole that they can only all-in on the blatant fake narrative. Writer: Claudio

@Bushra1Shaikh But this whole thing has nothing to do with Islam. It was Morocco showing Spain it can stop enforcing borders when it wants while inviting 50000 teenagers to run riot for a day, and go home to an earful from their mum.

Islam does not permit migration through deception or the deliberate violation of lawful agreements. Genuine asylum seekers fleeing persecution are a separate matter and have long been recognised in Islamic tradition as deserving protection and refuge. Therefore, if the mass movement of Moroccans into Ceuta was not driven by genuine claims to asylum but by other motives, it would not be condoned under these principles.

@benonwine Nothing to do with migration. It's to do with Morocco pressurising Spain by showing they can stop policing the border whenever they want. That and internal Moroccan politics.

I’ve just watched the clips. There are rumors which are very hard to ignore that are swirling right now, and videos circulating of state trucks moving large groups of men to the border so they can swim across into Ceuta. It looks very much like the Moroccan government enabled, orchestrated and planned this invasion. The New York Times has spoken with several Moroccan nationals who say they were encouraged to cross by the Moroccan authorities. Fifty thousand men don’t just appear at a border by accident. Trucks, coordination, timing this wasn’t spontaneous. When a state helps move that many people across a border in a single surge, it’s not migration. It’s something else entirely. Call it what it looks like.

@narindertweets The Moroccan government is paid by the EU and Spain to control the borders. I guess on Thursday it decided not to bother and to ship a few thousand teenagers in. They're all home now getting a scolding from Mum and a thick ear from Dad.

Look over there - immigrants!!! Hopefully no one will notice we just got obliterated in Manchester. Absolutely annihilated.

@CraigMurrayOrg I don't think there's just one problem.

The problem with Ceutta is not immigration. It's that Spain retains a colonial foothold in Africa.

@zriboua I live in Spain and work with people from Nador, Al Hoceima and Tetouan, who all believe (admittedly unsubstantiated) it was orchestrated somehow.

@zriboua These are very valid macro arguments but don't explain Thursday's sudden huge surge of young people crossing (including many teenagers and children) and their equally sudden willingness to go back again. And what happened on the Moroccan side for it to happen?

Ceuta, Morocco, Understanding the Situation For a long time, Islamist rhetoric in Morocco has painted Europe as a kind of promised land, a place where welfare never runs out, chances are everywhere, and prosperity comes easily, with barely any effort required. The objective has always been to weaken trust in Morocco's own institutions and steer young people toward leaving. But those very currents held power after the 2011 constitutional reforms tied to the Arab Spring. Their time in government produced a sluggish economy, unfulfilled promises, and a public that steadily lost faith. Since then, the pitch has barely changed. The same refrains keep coming back, while Morocco is framed as a failed state, not worth anyone’s loyalty, not worth building, not worth investing in. In that narrative, Morocco is often branded a kafir state and the King is attacked as not Islamic enough. Young Moroccans are urged toward jihad and a permanent stance of confrontation with the West. Amazigh (Berber) identity, too, is mocked or dismissed as backward, even primitive. Year after year, the effort has been to drain the spirit out of an entire generation, to sell them on one bleak claim above all: their country has no future. The same ideological current also pushes a claim that Morocco is trying to “reclaim Muslim land” via Ceuta and Melilla. In reality, no Moroccan government has expressed such a demand to the United Nations or any similar international body. Official diplomacy has kept those enclaves separate from Western Sahara, where Rabat has made a formal, explicit sovereignty claim for decades. That difference says a lot about the distance between Morocco’s actual foreign policy and the Islamist storyline built for ideological mobilization. It’s also worth noting where the loudest demand has come from. A Moroccan Islamist leader has publicly argued that the country “must eventually regain control of Ceuta and Melilla.” By projecting that position onto the state while brushing aside official statements and practice, Islamist activists manufacture a thin appearance of legitimacy for a campaign that aims to weaken state authority, and amplify the message online for global support. Morocco’s ties with Israel and the United States then get turned into a weapon as well, presented as proof that the government itself lacks legitimacy. Morocco remains a developing country. Real social and economic difficulties persist, and legitimate frustrations deserve to be taken seriously. Still, describing the country as hopeless helps no one, not Moroccans and not anyone interested in meaningful reform. In practice, that narrative mainly benefits two groups: people looking to justify illegal migration, and those trying to strip the Moroccan state of legitimacy. The timing is also interesting: general elections are set for 23 September, and Islamist operators understand that border chaos, magnified on social media, can destabilize the incumbent narrative before the vote. Since October 7, this has sharpened, in part because Islamists now face a possible political rival in Fouzi Lekjaa, the highly capable president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation. Lekjaa is widely credited with driving Morocco’s historic run to the semi-finals in the 2022 World Cup and with turning the national team into a global force. Now he is using his key role in winning and preparing for the 2030 World Cup, co-hosted with Spain and Portugal, to bolster his profile as a potential prime minister, and to deepen his standing as one of the country’s most influential public figures. Contrary to the conspiracy talk that spreads online, Morocco gains nothing from uncontrolled crossings. Some critics point to Algeria’s relationships with European governments, but every major European state keeps channels open with Algiers, Giorgia Meloni’s Italy has a notably strong relationship, while Morocco’s day-to-day cooperation has stayed consistently solid across the board. That includes strong migration frameworks with France and Germany, including a bilateral partnership signed with Berlin in 2024 that has driven higher returns, deportation arrangements with Hungary and Poland, and, most recently, close operational coordination with the United States. The truth is that Morocco is itself under heavy migration pressure coming from the Sahel. In 2025 alone, authorities intercepted 73,640 attempted irregular crossings, and sub-Saharan nationals now account for nearly 60% of foreign residents. Last year, several thousand Sudanese and other Sahel-origin migrants also crossed the eastern border, adding to the strain already felt in Moroccan cities, it’s a pressure ordinary Moroccans regularly complain about. The chaos of the past two days only worsens Morocco’s position rather than helping it: once the impression of an open or uncontrolled border spreads, it draws in even more refugees and irregular migrants, piling additional weight onto a burden that is already substantial. zinebriboua.com/p/ceuta-morocc…

@RaheemKassam Vote Binface

Canvassing in Clacton yesterday and out of nowhere, this 1945 Scammell truck pulls up. As a Type 1304, this was built as a heavy-duty recovery vehicle, I believe, equipped to salvage tanks and armour and more. There aren’t a lot left, as you can imagine, so it was a real treat to see this awesome bit of British engineering on the road!

@Nigel_Farage They're back in Morocco now. They can't go to Spain legally unless they spend months or years in internment or pay those wads of cash in their trunks to cross illegally. Morocco is paid to control its borders with Ceuta. Why did it suddenly stop doing that on Thursday?

This is an invasion. It's time to wake up.

@MsMelChen Maybe it's not orchestrated like that, but there remains a question. Morocco is paid by the EU and Spain to control the borders with Ceuta and Melilla. On Thursday it suddenly stopped doing that. Why?

The craziest takes I’ve seen claim the migrant wave into Ceuta was orchestrated by Trump and Netanyahu to undermine and destabilize Spain as punishment for Pedro Sánchez’s stance on Gaza But reality is just a lot simpler:

@Khaledhzakariah That is a very kneejerk, daft response.

Boycott Spain. Suspend the Schengen arrangement with Spain. Declare Spanish diplomats persona non grata. Boycott Spanish products. Don't do business with Spaniards. They represent an existential threat to Europe and the security of the West.

@zarahussain999 In this case it's a business, a supermarket. Why should they give their products free to people who could go back home and eat? The very sudden appearance of 60,000 young Moroccans on the Ceuta border requires an explanation.

Hungry Moroccan migrants are outside a supermarket guarded by the police. The Spanish government has allegedly blocked them from accessing food in Ceuta. This is a humanitarian crisis; thousands could get sick or die. Spain must support them urgently.