Madrid Buses Compare Ceuta Breach to October 7 in New ACOM Campaign

A new campaign launched by the ACOM organization in the streets of Madrid asks the Spanish public a direct question: how would you react if the events of October 7 took place on Spanish soil? Ahead of the third anniversary of the massacre, the organization placed messages on two buses comparing the mass infiltration into Ceuta last July with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The Campaign Message and Bus Tour

"Did Ceuta make you feel threatened?" was written on the sides of the buses. Below the question, it reads: "Imagine they had arrived to kill us. That was October 7 in Israel." Additional messages in the campaign state: "Israel did what it had to do: defend itself" and "Do not make the victims the culprits."

The two buses traveled on October 6 and 7 through the main streets of Madrid for about ten hours a day. According to ACOM, they garnered approximately 220,000 street impressions during the campaign, not including social media exposure.

Comparing Ceuta and October 7

The campaign juxtaposes the events of July 30 in Ceuta, the Spanish enclave in North Africa, with the October 7 onslaught. According to the report, tens of thousands of people arrived in Ceuta from Morocco on those days, mostly swimming and on foot, causing border control systems to collapse and creating a sense of emergency and loss of control.

"Israel did what a country does when its citizens are killed and kidnapped: protect them," the ACOM report emphasized.

On the other hand, the organization presents October 7: the infiltration of armed terrorists into Israeli communities, the murder of some 1,200 people, and the kidnapping of more than 250. ACOM stresses that they do not claim these are identical events. On the contrary: "Ceuta was not October 7," the report notes. The comparison, according to the organization, is meant to illustrate a country's natural reaction when its citizens feel threatened.

Criticism of the Spanish Government

Simultaneously, ACOM points an accusing finger at the Spanish government led by Pedro Sánchez. The organization claims that in recent years the government has adopted a hostile line toward Israel, among other things through recognition of a Palestinian state, pressure to promote an embargo, and the use of accusatory language against Israel. According to ACOM, while Spain demands protection for its citizens when its borders are threatened, a different standard is applied to Israel.

The final message of the campaign is directed against what the organization terms "the reversal of the narrative": the attempt, it argues, to turn the victim into the guilty party and to forget how and why the war began. For ACOM, the starting point is October 7 — and from there, the organization argues, Israel's right to defend its citizens must also be examined.