Black buses began circling the streets of Madrid this week in an unusual public campaign linking Spain's Ceuta border crisis last summer to the October 7 terror attack on Israel.
The campaign, which launched Tuesday night, aims to bring the circumstances of the war's outbreak back into Spanish public discourse and to shows Spanish citizens the sense of threat Israel experienced.
On the buses, there is an image of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wearing a keffiyeh, alongside messages addressing both the Ceuta crisis and the terror attack in Israel.
One side of the bus reads: "Ceuta, 30 July 2026," followed by a description of events as "illegal invaders. Thousands of Muslims at your border creating chaos and insecurity." Next to Sánchez's image appears the question: "Did Ceuta make you feel threatened? Imagine if they had come in to kill us."
The message continues: "Israel did what it had to do. Defend itself."
The rear of the bus displays the date "Israel, 7 October 2023," alongside a description of the terror attack: "Armed terrorists entered to murder, kidnap and destroy communities." The message ends with a call: "Don't turn the victims into the guilty."
Campaign organisers stress that the initiative does not claim that the Ceuta events and the October 7 attack are exactly the same. According to them, the comparison is meant to present the Spanish public with a familiar emotional experience: the sense of insecurity created when a national border is breached.
"This is not an equal comparison between Ceuta and October 7, but rather an appeal to the feelings people have when they see a border violated, and a resemblance to what happened in Israel," said a source involved in organising the campaign, who requested anonymity.
The campaign references the entry of tens of thousands of migrants into Ceuta in late July 2026, an event that according to reports sparked sharp debate in Spain around border security and personal safety. The organisers argue that precisely this experience enables the Spanish public to understand, even partially, the feelings that accompanied Israel after the terrorists' infiltration on October 7.
Videos documenting the buses have already gained wide circulation on social media. Some users initially raised the possibility that the content was created using artificial intelligence, but campaign organisers rejected the claim.
The initiative takes place against the backdrop of growing discussion about antisemitism in Europe and Spain, and parallel to the Spanish political system grappling with political developments ahead of elections Sánchez has called.
The buses are expected to continue moving through Madrid's streets in the coming days, as part of the campaign marking the third anniversary of the October 7 attack.
