On Thursday, approximately 60,000 Moroccans crossed the border between mainland Morocco and the Spanish “enclave” of Ceuta, an “autonomous city” in North Africa administered by the government (and kingdom) of Spain. Videos circulating on social media showed hordes of mostly young Moroccan men streaming by land and sea into the tiny coastal city, with the overwhelmed local government calling for the Spanish leadership to send reinforcements and declare a state of emergency, which Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez refused to do – according to him, national emergencies could not be declared for migration, whatever the scale. 

Right-wing media pundits and officials – including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – expressed shock and called for the suspension of the Schengen agreement with Spain over the threat of widespread illegal immigration. This fear was overstated: as expressed by Moroccan commentators, the influx was mostly driven by social media hype and mob mentality resulting from the Spanish government’s positive legal and rhetorical stance towards migration. 

That right-wing commentators would leverage the incident to bolster their anti-migration platforms is unsurprising. Meanwhile, the left twisted itself into a pretzel to defend Spain. Leftist commentators........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)