“Ceuta has become Gaza”, “Ceuta is now Gaza”. Loaded with excessiveness, also with a push to attract digital attention, these phrases constitute an essential message from the pro-Israeli network of Military Strategies channels, with 560,000 subscribers on YouTube —where its videos are close to 190 million views—, 70,800 followers on X and almost 26,900 members of its Telegram distribution list. The network, which broadcasts in Spanish but has ties to the country of Israel—from whose authorities it does not receive funding, Military Strategies assures—is characterized by the integration of two speeches into a sensationalist tidal wave. Which is it? The first, a narrative openly favorable to the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu, especially in relation to Gaza and Iran; the second, a frontal attack on the Spanish Executive due to the Ceuta crisis, presented as a result of a war action by Morocco facilitated by Pedro Sánchez.
The result, a cocktail of hoaxes, exaggerations, catastrophism, accusations of “treason” and appeals to a civil uprising to overthrow the Spanish Government and even the intervention of Felipe VI, is an example of how disinformation works against a country in the midst of a serious crisis.
In a written response to El PAÍS, the person in charge of Military Strategies assumes that it is possible that his channels are among those that Sánchez was referring to on Monday when he said that “social networks associated” with Israel – also Russia – have spread “hoaxes” against Spain. "I suppose that his statements may refer to my channel and other independent media. Breaking the narrative established by the Government [...] means placing a target on oneself. Furthermore, it seems to have become fashionable to blame the Jews or Israel for all the problems," says this official, who during the Ceuta crisis has explained that he maintains anonymity to protect himself from enemies such as Hamas and Iran.
The same person in charge affirms that his “link with Israel” is “personal, historical and cultural” and denies receiving funds from Israeli NGOs or his State. His network of channels, he claims, is financed with his income via YouTube and Twitch, with “commercial collaborations” and with “donations” from followers. It also denies that it functions as Israel's “press office” or “automatically” assumes its “speech.” And he defends that his “only official contact” with Israel has consisted of occasionally inviting a spokesperson for his Defense Forces to his programs. His “commercial collaboration” with Israeli companies is limited, he says, to a discount for his followers from a company that offers DNA tests to find out family origins.
The link with the Israeli country is proven in what was published in its own network of accounts. At least between November 2023 and March of this year, its channels have carried out broadcasts labeled as follows: “From Israel.” On X, the old Twitter, he publishes information presenting himself as based in the Middle Eastern country. What's more, in the account itself he has located himself in Israel until this Thursday, something he attributes to the fact that he "likes" the country, explains in writing the person in charge of the network, who assures that he works "from different countries", which he does not want to reveal, in another gesture of opacity that adds to the anonymity. After this response, he changed the autolocation to X and now says Morocco.
On YouTube, Military Strategies helps raise funds for the Roast for Our Warriors campaign, which aims to prepare roasts and serve them to Israeli soldiers as a tribute. The promoting entity is an NGO supporting the Israeli army with “mostly Latin” volunteers who live in the Hebrew country or abroad. Military Strategies helps the initiative by directing its followers to an Israeli fundraising platform.
ACOM, an organization that defends Israel's interests in Spain, shares Military Strategies content. It already did it before the Ceuta crisis, but now the frequency has increased. The spreader of far-right hoaxes Javier Negre, propagandist for Donald Trump and Javier Milei and defender in Spain of the positions of the Israeli Government, also publishes Military Strategies videos through EdaTV.
Although since it began operating in 2023 Military Strategies has addressed topics such as Venezuelan politics, the war in Ukraine or UFOs, Israel has been its main object of attention, whether exalting the operations of its army, defending its condition of “full democracy” in contrast to its neighbors or accusing the Government of Spain of “anti-Semitism.”
However, as of July 30, its focus has shifted and it has become a priority to deal with the Ceuta crisis. His vision of it, synthesized in the following paragraphs with messages on X, YouTube and Telegram, combines two narratives. On the one hand, it places emphasis on the “decadence” of Spain, of which the Moroccan “invasion” serves as proof. On the other hand, he deploys a discourse of national pride, which calls for a “reconquest” and encourages an insurgency against Sánchez. "If the Government is still in power tomorrow, someone in Spain has to do something. And if the King doesn't do it, the people will," he stated on YouTube this week, before exclaiming that "we must go out into the streets" to "throw out this Government once and for all."
His diagnosis is based on the estimate that 100,000 foreigners crossed the border and 20,000 still remain in Ceuta—figures above official data and most independent calculations—in what constitutes an “invasion.” But not in a figurative sense. It is a “military invasion,” according to the network, which attributes the events to an operation by the Moroccan army that uses the avalanche as the starting point of a plan in several phases that plans to culminate with the “taking” of Ceuta “by force.” A forecast that pairs perfectly with the disturbing music that backgrounds the videos, which together with the sensationalist elevation creates an atmosphere of war hysteria.
The alleged Moroccan military action is not limited to Ceuta, according to this network. “Morocco declares war on Spain, also invades the city of Melilla,” he proclaimed at the beginning of the crisis. And he added shortly after: “Melilla looks like Gaza right now.” It is one of the fixations of Military Strategies: to compare the situation of the two autonomous cities - especially Ceuta - with that of Gaza. The two Spanish towns would be, according to this narrative, at risk of becoming fertile ground for terrorism. Regarding Sánchez, this network affirms that its “golden dream” is to “turn Ceuta into Gaza.”
According to Military Strategies, Morocco has the complicity of the Sánchez Government, guilty of “betrayal” of Spain, the announcer also shouted this week. If the charge of “treason” – also heard in the demonstrations on Wednesday – would be based on the unproven hypothesis that the Government had full knowledge of “what was going to happen” on July 30 and 31 and decided not to act assuming the harm to its own people, the same lack of basis presents another accusation: the Government is making it easier for the “invaders” to surround “the military arsenal of Ceuta”, which will allow them to take it over if it comes to an open war. In addition, it plans—according to the content issued—to send the National Police to repress the “dissident Ceutíes” who oppose the “invasion.”
Why this supposed surrender? Another accusation arrives supported by speculation, in this case of blackmail. “They are willing [in Sánchez's Executive] to hand over Ceuta and Melilla to Morocco, because Morocco has things from the Government and they know that they can go to jail if Morocco opens its mouth,” the announcer maintains in a video, who uses the collaboration of a Ceuta influencer to do live shows and covers the content of Rubén Pulido, an influential figure in Vox's positions on immigration.
“The invaders are friends of Hamas” or “Does the Government surrender the city to Morocco?” are two of the phrases that can be heard or read on these channels, in which falsehoods extend to public health. "Scabies epidemic in the city. Total fear," is the title of one of the videos, despite the fact that no epidemic has occurred, as clarified by the Ministry of Health. In this video, he maintains in an alarmist manner that the risk of spread is increased because Ceuta is a “confined space” where “there is contact with all these vermin,” in reference to immigrants.
In his written response, the person in charge of Military Strategies maintains that he has been “quite faithful” to what is happening in Ceuta. Confronted with some of his statements, he does not recant, but rather gives a broad explanation that includes clarifications and clarifications in a much more measured tone than the one he uses before his audience. Regarding the “scabies epidemic,” he states: “My statement refers to the appearance of cases, outbreaks and objective epidemiological risk factors.” Regarding Morocco's declaration of "war", he points out: "I do not maintain that Rabat has issued a formal declaration of war in legal or diplomatic terms. This is a political, strategic and military assessment."
Technologist Marcelino Madrigal, an expert in the analysis of disinformation campaigns, considers that this network constitutes an example of digital infrastructure of “disinformation” designed to “spread Israeli narratives” and in parallel “attack a country”, in this case Spain, at a time of “security crisis”, so he believes that the Government should evaluate the “risk” posed by its activity. The “connections” and “narratives” of this network show, according to Madrigal, an “alignment” both with far-right channels and with Israeli “operators and proxies” that the researcher places in the broad context of Israel's hostility against Spain for its position during the invasion of Gaza. Regardless of whether or not there are economic connections—which his study does not go into—this researcher believes that this “coalition” is in itself “significant” because it has the capacity to “influence public opinion” through “unsupported assertions” and “exaggerations.”
“States that seek to amplify their propaganda through social networks covet, above all, having ecosystems in which their messages can reverberate,” says Iago Moreno, specialist in analysis of disinformation and digital propaganda. In his opinion, Military Strategies is part of an “ecosystem” favorable to Israel, a condition for which it is not necessary that it receive its financing or its orders. What's more, for "effective digital propaganda" it is preferable that there are no direct links between the States and the "content creators", and that these are "informal actors", he analyzes.
