{"id":606458,"date":"2026-09-05T06:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T06:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/606458\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T06:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T06:44:14","slug":"alarmist-disinformation-on-a-pro-israel-digital-network-ceuta-is-now-gaza-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/606458\/","title":{"rendered":"Alarmist disinformation on a pro-Israel digital network: \u2018Ceuta is now Gaza\u2019 | International"},"content":{"rendered":"

Designed to grab online attention, hooks like \u201cCeuta is now Gaza\u201d convey the essential message of Estrategias Militares (Military Strategies), a network of social media accounts and channels with 560,000 subscribers on YouTube, where its videos have close to 190 million views; 70,800 followers on X and almost 26,900 members on its Telegram list. Broadcasting in Spanish with a pro-Israel tilt, the network is characterized by two alarmist narratives. The first is openly favorable to Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government, especially in relation to Gaza and Iran; the second is a direct attack on the Spanish government over the Ceuta migration crisis<\/a>, presented as an invasion orchestrated by Morocco and facilitated by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez, a socialist.<\/p>\n

The result is a cocktail of hoaxes, exaggerations, apocalyptic predictions, accusations of \u201ctreason\u201d and appeals to overthrow the Spanish government and even requesting an intervention by King Felipe VI. In short, it is an example of how disinformation can work against a country in the midst of a serious crisis. <\/p>\n

In a written response to El PA\u00cdS, the head of Military Strategies says it is possible that its channels are among those to which S\u00e1nchez was referring on August 31 when the Spanish leader said that \u201csocial networks associated\u201d with Israel \u2013 and Russia \u2013 have spread \u201choaxes\u201d against Spain. \u201cI suppose that his statements may refer to my channel and other independent media. Breaking the narrative established by the government […] means making oneself a target. It also seems to have become fashionable to blame Jews and Israel for all problems,\u201d he says while explaining that he is maintaining anonymity during the Ceuta crisis to protect himself from enemies such as Hamas and Iran.<\/p>\n

The head of the network claims that his ties with Israel are \u201cpersonal, historical and cultural\u201d while denying receiving funds from Israeli NGOs or the state. His network of channels, he says, is financed by revenues from YouTube and Twitch, as well as \u201ccommercial collaborations\u201d and \u201cdonations\u201d from followers. He also denies that it functions as a \u201cpress office\u201d for Israel or that it \u201cautomatically\u201d parrots the Israeli government line. He adds that his \u201conly official contact\u201d with Israel has consisted of occasionally inviting a spokesman for the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) onto his channels. His \u201ccommercial collaboration\u201d with Israeli companies is limited to a discount for his followers from a company that offers DNA tests into family origins, he says.<\/p>\n

Israeli connections <\/p>\n

The link with Israel is stated on the Military Strategies\u2019 network of platform accounts. Between November 2023 and March of this year, its channels were broadcasting under the heading \u201cFrom Israel.\u201d On X, the account was until this week showing its location as Israel, something the head of the network attributes to the fact that he \u201clikes\u201d the country while explaining that he works out of \u201cdifferent countries.\u201d He does not want to reveal the names of said countries, in another gesture of opacity. After this query, however, the location was altered on September 3 and the location is now set to Morocco.<\/p>\n

\"\"Video titles on Estrategias Militares\u2019 YouTube channel. The titles include “Invaders expelled from the beach”, “Invaders, friends of Hamas” and “Ceuta, scabies epidemic”El Pa\u00eds<\/p>\n

On YouTube, Military Strategies helps raise funds for the campaign \u2018A roast for our warriors\u2019, aimed at preparing barbecues or roast dinners and serving them to Israeli soldiers to honor their work. The initiative belongs to an NGO that supports the Israeli army with volunteers who are \u201cmostly Latinos\u201d who live in Israel or abroad. Military Strategies helps by directing its followers to an Israeli fundraising platform. <\/p>\n

ACOM, an organization that defends Israel\u2019s interests in Spain, shares content from Military Strategies. It already did so before the Ceuta crisis, but this has become more intense since. The disseminator of far-right hoaxes Javier Negre<\/a>, a Spanish propagandist for Donald Trump and Javier Milei who defends the positions of the Israeli government, also publishes videos of Military Strategies through EdaTV.<\/p>\n

At \u2018war\u2019 with Morocco <\/p>\n

Military Strategies began operating in 2023 and has addressed issues such as Venezuelan politics<\/a>, the war in Ukraine and UFOs, though Israel has been its main focus. It has praised the IDF, defended Israel\u2019s status as a \u201cfull democracy\u201d in contrast to its neighbors and accused the Spanish government of \u201canti-semitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, from 30 July, its focus has shifted to the Ceuta crisis. With messages on X, YouTube and Telegram, it has combined two narratives. On the one hand, it stresses the \u201cdecline\u201d of Spain, citing the \u201cinvasion\u201d from Morocco as proof. On the other, it appeals to patriotism and calls for a \u201creconquest\u201d of Spain, fanning the idea of an insurgency against S\u00e1nchez. \u201cIf the government is still in power tomorrow, someone in Spain has to do something. And if the King<\/a> doesn\u2019t do it, the people will,\u201d the head of the network said on YouTube this week, before exclaiming that \u201cwe have to take to the streets\u201d to \u201cthrow this government out once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The outrage is based on Military Strategies\u2019 estimate that 100,000 foreigners crossed the Spanish-Moroccan border into Ceuta and that there are still 20,000 left in the exclave city in North Africa \u2013 figures well above official data and most independent calculations. This, it claims, amounts to an \u201cinvasion\u201d and not in a figurative sense. It is, according to the network, a \u201cmilitary invasion\u201d orchestrated by the Moroccan army that is using it as the departure point for a multi-phase plan that will culminate in the \u201ctaking\u201d of Ceuta \u201cby force.\u201d This theory is voiced while disturbing music plays in the background, creating an atmosphere of war hysteria. <\/p>\n

\"\"Immigrants wait for the distribution of food at Trampol\u00edn beach in Ceuta on September 3.Javier Hern\u00e1ndez<\/p>\n

The alleged Moroccan military action is not limited to Ceuta, according to Military Strategies. \u201cMorocco declares war on Spain, it also invades the city of Melilla [another exclave city in North Africa],\u201d it proclaimed at the beginning of the crisis. It added shortly after: \u201cMelilla looks like Gaza right now;\u201d Military Strategies is obsessed with comparing Spain\u2019s two autonomous enclaves, especially Ceuta, with Gaza. According to this narrative, Ceuta and Melilla are at risk of becoming fertile ground for terrorism and S\u00e1nchez has a \u201cgolden dream\u201d to \u201cturn Ceuta into Gaza<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surrender and blackmail <\/p>\n

According to Military Strategies, Morocco enjoys the complicity of S\u00e1nchez\u2019s government which is guilty of \u201ctreason\u201d against Spain. The charge of \u201ctreason,\u201d also chanted during demonstrations on September 2<\/a>, is based on the unproven hypothesis that the government had full knowledge of \u201cwhat was going to happen\u201d on 30 and 31 July and decided not to act. Another unfounded accusation follows: the government is making it easier for the \u201cinvaders\u201d to surround \u201cthe military arsenal of Ceuta,\u201d thereby facilitating the taking of the enclave if war breaks out. The network also claims the government planned to send the National Police to repress the \u201cdissidents\u201d in Ceuta opposing the \u201cinvasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why this alleged surrender by S\u00e1nchez\u2019s government? \u201cThey are willing [in S\u00e1nchez\u2019s government] to hand over Ceuta and Melilla to Morocco, because Morocco has things on the government and they know that they can go to jail for if Morocco opens its mouth,\u201d says one video broadcast by the head of the network.<\/p>\n

\"PedroSpanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez greets King Mohammed VI in Rabat in 2024.BORJA PUIG DE LA BELLACASA (EFE \/ MONCLOA)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe invaders are friends of Hamas\u201d and \u201cIs the government surrendering the enclave to Morocco?\u201d are two of the soundbites that can be heard or read on these channels, which include fabrications regarding risks to public health. \u201cScabies epidemic in the city. Total fear,\u201d is the headline for one video, despite the fact that no such epidemic has occurred, as the Spanish Ministry of Health confirms. Still, it is argued that the risk of spread is heightened by Ceuta being a \u201cconfined space\u201d where \u201cthere is contact with all these vermin,\u201d in reference to the newly arrived immigrants. <\/p>\n

The head of Military Strategies tells EL PA\u00cdS that he has been \u201cquite faithful\u201d to what is happening in Ceuta. When queried over the veracity of his claims, he does not retract, but gives a broad explanation in a much more measured tone than the one he uses online. On the \u201cscabies epidemic,\u201d<\/a> he writes, \u201cMy statement refers to the appearance of cases, outbreaks and objective epidemiological risk factors.\u201d On Morocco\u2019s declaration of \u201cwar,\u201d he points out: \u201cI do not maintain that Rabat has issued a formal declaration of war in legal or diplomatic terms. It is a political, strategic and military assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDisinformation\u201d techniques <\/p>\n

Expert in the analysis of disinformation campaigns, Marcelino Madrigal considers that this network is an example of a digital infrastructure of \u201cdisinformation\u201d designed to \u201cspread Israeli narratives\u201d and \u201cattack a country,\u201d in this case Spain, during a \u201csecurity crisis.\u201d He believes that the government should assess the \u201crisk\u201d posed by its activity. The \u201cconnections\u201d and \u201cnarratives\u201d of this network indicate an \u201calignment\u201d with both far-right channels and with Israeli \u201coperators and proxies\u201d that Madrigal places in the context of Israel\u2019s hostility towards Spain for its position on Gaza. Regardless of whether there are economic links to Israel \u2013 which Madrigal does not go into \u2013 he believes that this \u201ccoalition\u201d is in itself \u201csignificant\u201d because it has the capacity to \u201cinfluence public opinion\u201d through \u201cunsupported statements\u201d and \u201cexaggerations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStates that seek to amplify their propaganda through social networks covet, above all, having ecosystems in which their messages can reverberate,\u201d says Iago Moreno, a specialist in disinformation and digital propaganda and head of the Future of Technology Institute think tank in Spain. In his opinion, Military Strategies is part of an \u201cecosystem\u201d favorable to Israel, a condition that can exist independent of funding or direct influence. Moreover, for \u201ceffective digital propaganda,\u201d it is preferable that there are no direct links between states and \u201ccontent creators,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Ceuta crisis, it is quite well understood that, both in the ecosystems aligned with Russia and in those aligned with Israel and the United States, existing channels have functioned as conveyor belts for messages that probably would not have had the same penetration through proxies more obviously subordinated to the interests of those powers,\u201d says Moreno, whose think tank analyzes the activity of this network within a growing genre that he calls \u201cmilitary pornography.\u201d This genre is of interest, he says, to the \u201cgreat powers\u201d for its ability to foment opinion on wars and conflicts.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a> to get more English-language news coverage from EL PA\u00cdS USA Edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Designed to grab online attention, hooks like \u201cCeuta is now Gaza\u201d convey the essential message of Estrategias Militares…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[259123,85,46,43,3800,29333,678],"class_list":["post-606458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-ceuta","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-pedro-sanchez","tag-rabat","tag-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}