Mike Huckabee, the Trump administration’s ambassador to Israel, lashed out Saturday at Hollywood icon Javier Bardem after the Spanish actor pushed back against narratives promoted by the Trump administration and right-wing figures surrounding the recent Moroccan refugee crisis in a Spanish territory in Africa.
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As many as 60,000 migrants crossed into Ceuta, Spain’s North African enclave, from Morocco starting Thursday, in one of the largest border breaches in the territory’s history. At least 48,300 “had returned to Morocco by Friday afternoon,” The New York Post reported, and at least 60 people had died trying to enter the Spanish territory.
Right-wing figures such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump have seized on the crisis to bolster their anti-immigration positions, and on Friday, Bardem pressed back on their characterization of the incident by sharing an online post on Instagram, according to British author and television personality Oli London.
“Ceuta is in Africa, not Europe. This isn’t an ‘invasion’ of the West – if anything it’s the reverse, given Morocco functions increasingly as a Western-aligned client state,” reads the post shared by Bardem Friday.
The post shared by Bardem was written by author and columnist Miranda Vidak, who went on to admit that while she didn’t “know who engineered this crisis,” Israel – which Spain has increasingly criticized on the world stage for its military bombardment of Gaza – stood to “benefit from a weakened, destabilized Spain.” She also flagged online comments from Yair Netanyahu, the son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he called on “Arabs and Muslims” to liberate Spanish territories in Africa, including Ceuta.
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“This has nothing to do with Islam ‘invading’ Europe, and everything to do with punishing the loudest European government still willing to call a genocide a genocide.”
Huckabee, among the most pro-Israeli figures in the Trump administration who said it would be “fine” if Israel “took” over portions of several Middle East countries, was not pleased with Bardem’s online activity.
“This laughable new blood libel by another dim-witted actor who is as qualified to talk about Israel as Charles Schumer is to offer tips on grilling burgers actually blames Israel for the illegal immigrants flooding Spain,” Huckabee wrote Saturday in a social media post on X. “He’s ‘Dumb & Dumber’ rolled into one person.”
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This laughable new blood libel by another dim-witted actor who is as qualified to talk about Israel as Charles Schumer is to offer tips on grilling burgers actually blames Israel for the illegal immigrants flooding Spain. He’s “Dumb & Dumber” rolled into one person. https://t.co/BpJUwWrgWU
— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) August 1, 2026
