“We have never had the slightest doubt about who controls Ceuta”: Israel's latest words to Morocco — and why this alliance will not last
Yasmine Belkacem — Genève, Suisse — 2026-09-13
A note on method. In diplomacy, only one word counts: the latest one. Yesterday's statements belong to history; today's is a position. This file therefore retains only one thing: what Israeli diplomacy has said most recently about Ceuta, and what those words commit it to. Every quotation is dated, located and attributed. And at the end, we concede what must be conceded.
🗣️ The latest words, word for word
On Thursday 10 September 2026, in Madrid. A forum — Nueva Economía Fórum — presented by the former president of the Spanish government José María Aznar. The head of mission of Israel's embassy in Spain, Dana Erlich, takes the floor and says this:
“In Israel we have never had — and we do not have — the slightest doubt about who controls Ceuta. One of my first visits on arriving in Spain was to Ceuta, because knowing the different faces of Spain is the most important part of my work. Being in Ceuta, seeing President Vivas, listening to his work and to what they do to live together, it seems to me that this is an example we must learn from.”
This sentence was spoken in front of a former head of the Spanish government, in the Spanish capital, by the most senior official of the Israeli mission in that country. It is neither a press release, nor an anonymous spokesperson, nor an obligatory message on a social network.
🔎 Every word counts
This sentence has to be read slowly, because it is constructed.
| What she says | What it means |
|---|---|
| “we have never had” | This is not an answer given today. Israel has never recognised the Moroccan position on Ceuta |
| “and we do not have” | And it is not changing. The present is explicitly included in the sentence |
| “the slightest doubt” | The word is strong: not a doubt, not a reservation, not a nuance, not a condition |
| “about who controls Ceuta” | She is not talking about a “dispute” or a “contentious issue”. She is talking about control — and she says the question is settled |
| “one of my first visits was to Ceuta” | She verified it on the ground, meeting the city's president, Juan Vivas |
| “an example we must learn from” | She holds Ceuta up as a model. This is not a passing remark: it is a validation |
None of these six formulations is neutral. And together, they form the clearest answer a partner of Morocco has ever given to the question of Ceuta.
📅 She had already said it — and that is what makes her position solid
On 2 May 2026, still in Madrid, Dana Erlich had been asked about reports in the Israeli press mentioning possible Israeli support for Moroccan claims over Ceuta and Melilla. Her answer: backing the Moroccan position “is not something we think about in Israel, because it is not relevant”, and the subject “is not relevant to the current government of Benyamin Netanyahu.”
Two public statements, five months apart, from the same official, saying the same thing. This is not a slip, it is not a blunder, it is not a remark let drop: it is a line, and it is being held.
⏳ Why only the latest word counts
Politics is a movement, not a monument. An alliance is not an eternal contract: it is a dated interest. What was true yesterday can be false tomorrow — and that is precisely why the most recent word outweighs all those before it.
Morocco made a bet, in 2020. It normalised its relations with Israel, and in exchange it obtained American recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara. From that came a simple idea, repeated for five years: our new partners will eventually recognise Ceuta and Melilla too.
On 10 September 2026, that idea received its answer. Not through a discreet denial, not through a leak: through the official voice of the Israeli mission, in public, in Madrid.
And here is why this is not a calendar detail. What Morocco obtained from Israel — the rallying to its position on Western Sahara — was a price paid by Washington, not an Israeli conviction. Yet a recognition bought once can be resold another time — and in the other direction. That is the whole fragility of an alliance of convenience: it lasts as long as the need lasts, and not a day longer.
🧱 “Castles in Spain” — literally
The French expression says exactly that: to build castles in Spain is to build on nothing, to believe in a success that will not come.
This time, it must be taken literally. Israel will not build castles in Spain with Morocco — because Ceuta and Melilla are not Morocco: they are Spain. And it is its own diplomacy that has just said so, in Madrid, on 10 September 2026.
Morocco can keep signing, hosting, celebrating agreement anniversaries. It can bring in enthusiastic elected officials and researchers. But the day it came to choosing between Rabat and Madrid, the answer came in a single sentence — and it was not for him.
An alliance that does not withstand the simplest question — who does this territory belong to? — is not an alliance. It is a lease.
⚖️ What we concede, because it is true
We will not say that Israel has only one voice. Its ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, spoke differently during the Ceuta migration crisis, referring to Spain's “colonial enclaves” in Africa. That is true, and we report it.
But the difference must be measured. A message published during a crisis, on a social network, and an official statement, made in public, in the capital of the other country, five months after an initial clarification — these are not two things of the same nature. The first is a mood. The second is a position. And in diplomacy, it is the position that counts.
Nor will we say that Morocco is without support. It has support: a US congressman and an American researcher have come out in favour of its claim. That is not nothing, and it will weigh. But neither of them signs a state's foreign policy.
And we will not pretend that nothing will ever change. Israel can reverse its line tomorrow. But as long as it has not done so, its latest word is that of 10 September 2026 — and it is clear.
🔗 The sources, direct access — click and verify for yourself
- The statement of 10 September 2026, in Madrid — Dana Erlich, head of mission of Israel in Spain, at the Nueva Economía Fórum forum presented by José María Aznar: “In Israel we have never had — and we do not have — the slightest doubt about who controls Ceuta” — 20minutos (Spain): https://www.20minutos.es/nacional/embajadora-israel-admite-que-relacion-con-gobierno-es-critica-pero-defiende-soberania-espanola-ceuta_7034959_0.html
- The earlier statement, 2 May 2026: backing the Moroccan claim “is not relevant to the current Netanyahu government” — Hespress (Morocco), in English: https://en.hespress.com/137026-israel-dismisses-reports-it-may-back-morocco-claims-over-ceuta-and-melilla.html
These two links open the articles cited directly, with their dates. They are enough to verify this entire file, quotation by quotation.
Final note. The Spanish and English quotations are translated by our editorial team; the words in quotation marks are given as they were published. We clearly distinguish an official statement from a message published on a social network: they are not the same acts, and they do not carry the same weight. Where Morocco has real support, we write that too.