Israel, Ceuta and Melilla: Third World Escape Hatches

The past decade witnessed mass migrations of people from the Middle East and North Africa fleeing to Europe. Many died making the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean Sea in makeshift boats, a risk they were willing to take to leave their wretched lives in dysfunctional, broken economies.

Some Africans decided to skip the sea journey and made a run for a slice of Europe by land.

At the tip of Morocco lies two Spanish cities called Ceuta and Melilla. While on the African continent, they are recognized parts of Spain. Despite the high security barriers and controls that the Spaniards place to separate those cities from the rest of Africa, thousands sometimes descend on the cities hoping for a quick jump to a better life.

In July 2018, 800 migrants stormed the Ceuta fence, with 602 making it onto Spanish soil. At the time, the International Organization for Migration estimated that more than 22,700 migrants had arrived in Spain so far that year — three times more than in the same period in the prior year.

In March 2022, roughly 2,500 migrants tried to cross at Melilla but only 500 made it through. In June 2022, between 23 and 37 people died when nearly 2,000 men attempted to scale the fence to Melilla, who were met by Spanish security who fired rubber bullets at the crowd.

These African migrants came into Spain unarmed. They simply sought a more peaceful and prosperous life which is easier to achieve in Europe than poverty-stricken and corrupt Africa.

Like Spain, Israel is a thriving liberal democracy just footsteps from bankrupt societies. The major difference of the people illegally entering the two countries is that migrants to Spain harm no one. In contrast, Arabs have a military firing rockets and soldiers toting machine guns with the express aim of destroying Israel and killing its inhabitants.

Imagine that the government of Morocco ran on a platform that it wasn’t going to build an economy but was going to invade and take over Spain. That is the essence of the Palestinian Arabs’ vote in 2006 when it elected Hamas to 58% of the parliament, with a charter specifically calling for the destruction of Israel.

Anti-Israel people claim that Israel is a “European colonial regime” but really mean that they see it as a European-style, first-world successful country next door. Palestinian Arabs are attempting to conquer it with global support, rather than build a prosperous society on their own.