As Spain struggled to contain an unprecedented migration surge into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir seized the moment to deliver a political message, urging Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to "open Spain's doors" to Gazans wishing to leave the territory.

Ben-Gvir's remarks came at a particularly sensitive time for Spain, which was facing intense political and security pressure over the Ceuta crisis while remaining one of Europe's strongest critics of Israel's military campaign in Gaza and one of the most vocal supporters of Palestinian rights.

Critics argue that Ben-Gvir's comments were an attempt to use Spain's migration crisis to politically challenge Madrid. Rather than responding directly to Sánchez's criticism of Israel, Ben-Gvir suggested Spain should accept Gazans itself—an argument widely interpreted as: if Spain supports Palestinians, it should also bear the burden of receiving them.

The comments are consistent with Ben-Gvir's long-standing advocacy of what he calls the "voluntary emigration" of Gaza's population, a proposal that has drawn widespread criticism from human rights organizations and legal experts, who argue that voluntary departure is difficult to distinguish from forced displacement when civilians are living under war and mass displacement.

His remarks also coincided with political and media speculation in Spain alleging that Israel may have played a role in the Ceuta migration crisis amid deteriorating relations between Madrid and Tel Aviv over Gaza. However, no publicly available evidence has substantiated those allegations.

Regardless of those claims, analysts say the timing of Ben-Gvir's remarks was significant. By making them while Spain was struggling with one of its largest migration crises in years, he turned a domestic Spanish emergency into another front in the growing political dispute between Israel and one of Europe's most outspoken supporters of the Palestinian cause.