Late last week, the world was captivated by footage of tens of thousands of migrants crossing from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta—more than 60,000 over the course of roughly 24 hours. Spain has since rushed troops and resources to Ceuta to push migrants back across the border.
In the immediate aftermath, we published analyses of what this episode revealed, including Douglas Murray on the failure of Europe’s open-border policies, and Rod Dreher on the policy choices that left Spain so vulnerable.
Since then, competing narratives about the crisis have emerged online. According to some, the whole incident was a stunt orchestrated by the Moroccan government. According to others, Israel is somehow to blame. Today, Zineb Riboua explains what’s really behind the migrant surge—and why fierce domestic divisions between the Moroccan government and radical Islamist actors made it all but inevitable. —The Editors
To understand why tens of thousands of Moroccan migrants just stormed into the Spanish territory of Ceuta, it is not enough to understand European open-border policies—you must also understand the dynamics in their country of origin.
Morocco is a semi-constitutional monarchy led by a king, who governs alongside an elected parliament where Islamist, secular, and nationalist parties compete for political influence. However, Islamist groups dedicated to challenging the legitimacy of the monarchy itself also operate within the country—largely because they believe the king does not conform to their interpretation of Islamic law and governance. Opposition intensified after Morocco normalized relations with Israel under the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords. Although the government that signed the agreement was Islamist-led, many of the political actors involved later challenged normalization after they left office, capitalizing on Palestinian narratives after October 7 to mobilize domestic opposition.
