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By Air & By Water: The Houthi War Against Israel
Supporters of Yemen’s Houthis hold up their rifles as they rally to celebrate the seventh anniversary of the ousting of the government in Sanaa, Yemen September 21, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Less than two weeks after Hamas’ brutal October 7 terror invasion, as Israel was conducting intense strikes against Hamas targets in Gaza and preparing for its ground invasion, the Houthi movement in Yemen surprised the world by embarking on a terror campaign against Israel.
The barrage of five cruise missiles and roughly 30 UAVs were launched at both Israel and the Red Sea region. Almost all of these aerial threats were intercepted by a US naval ship operating in the Red Sea. Attacks on ships in the Red Sea followed soon after.
To understand why a Yemen-based group is intent on attacking a country almost 2,000 miles away, it is important to understand who the Houthis are, the role that antisemitism plays in the movement’s worldview, and how it is connected to both Iran and its regional proxies.
Who Are the Houthis?
The group known as the Houthis (officially named Ansar Allah == Partisans of God) first emerged in the 1990s/2000s in northern Yemen as part of a religious revival by Zaidi-Shi’ite Muslims.
By the early 2000s, the group had grown into a militant movement led by Hussein al-Houthi — and, in 2004, it first sought to overthrow the government of Yemen. Al-Houthi was killed in this first uprising, and the group is now led by his brother, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.
By 2009, there had been six rounds of fighting between the Houthis and the armed forces of Yemen, resulting in Houthi control over part of northern Yemen.
In late 2014/early 2015, following Yemen’s revolution and the weakening of governmental power, the Houthis gained control over Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and sought to depose the internationally-recognized Yemeni government, prompting the Yemeni civil war.
As part of the civil war, a wide range of Middle Eastern and North African countries have contributed forces to a Saudi-led coalition that seeks to back up the Yemeni government. This has led to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Since April 2022, a shaky truce has existed between both sides, with the Houthis controlling approximately 25% of Yemeni territory, which includes roughly half the total population of Yemen.
The Houthis’ Antisemitism
Hatred for Israel and the Jewish people is at the core of the Houthi movement’s worldview.
Part of the official slogan of the Houthi movement is “Death to America, Death to Israel, Damn the Jews.”
The Houthi movement’s antisemitism stems back to the early 2000s, to the group’s founder, Hussein al-Houthi.
Al-Houthi’s sermons were rife with hatred for both Israel and the Jewish people, with him calling for the “elimination and destruction” of the Jewish state, and warning that Muslim and Arab nations “will not be delivered from the evil of the Jews except by their eradication, and by the elimination of their entity.”
Al-Houthi also blamed Jews for the world’s woes and accused them of “manufacturing world opinion.”
The legacy of Hussein al-Houthi’s antisemitism continues to this day.
Ever since the attacks of October 7, Houthi outlets and leaders have unleashed a wave of antisemitism online, quoting the fabricated antisemitic tome The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, lauding Adolf Hitler, and spreading antisemitic caricatures.
While the Houthis’ invective against Israel was largely bluster until October 2023, its antisemitism did have real consequences for the extremely small Jewish community that existed in territory controlled by the Houthis.
Jews living under Houthi control were regularly subjected to abuse for their commitment to Judaism and, by 2021, the last Jews were expelled by the Houthis from their territory.
The Houthis as Part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance”
Similar to Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis are a recipient of patronage from the Islamic Republic of Iran, including advanced weapons and training.
However, although the Houthis are considered to be part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” against Israel and the West — which includes Hamas, Hezbollah, and Shiite Iraqi militias — the Yemen-based group acts independently of the Islamic Republic and is not beholden to every whim of their patrons in Tehran.
Nevertheless, despite the nuances of the relationship between Iran and the Houthis, it is clear that the latest attacks from Yemen toward Israel and its allies in the Red Sea region are in line with Iran’s post-October 7 policy of “unification of the fronts.” This policy aims to apply pressure on Israel from different fronts so that it cannot concentrate all its military power in the fight against Hamas in Gaza.
Several Western officials have surmised that it is extremely likely that the Houthis’ attacks have been sanctioned by the Islamic Republic, if not outright ordered by it.
The Houthi War Against Israel
In the days following the October 7 Hamas attacks, Houthi representatives made several public statements expressing support for Hamas, declaring that they were “in complete coordination with … the axis of resistance,” and threatening both Israel and the United States.
As noted above, it was almost two weeks later before the Houthis fired the first shot against Israel.
Since then (as of December 17, 2023), several other missiles and UAVs have been launched by the Houthis toward Israel, all of which have been intercepted by Israel, the United States, Egypt, or Saudi Arabia.
However daunting the idea of a Houthi attack against Israel is, the aerial threat posed by the Yemeni group to the Jewish state is smaller when compared to that of Hamas and Hezbollah, due to the considerable distance between Yemen and Israel.
The much greater danger posed by the Houthis to Israel is the threat to both Israel-connected ships and ships bound for Israel in the Red Sea.
On November 14, 2023, the Houthis warned that any ships with a connection to Israel passing through the Red Sea would be attacked.
This threat came to fruition five days later, when Houthi fighters hijacked the Galaxy Leader, a ship owned by a company that is headed by an Israeli businessman.
In the following days, several other ships in the Red Sea were attacked, despite the fact that some of them had no connection to Israel at all.
On December 9, the Houthis raised the ante by threatening any ship headed for Israel, no matter the national origins of that vessel.
This threat is serious enough that several multinational corporations have suspended shipping through the Red Sea.
In response to the Houthi threats and attacks, the United States is forming a multinational coalition known as Operation Prosperity Guardian, which will “tackle the challenge posed by this non-state actor.”
U.S warns Houthi rebels to stop their attacks on ships in the Red Sea and against Israel
‘Their idea is to put pressure on Israel but also on the West… About 12% percent of the global shipping goes through the Red Sea, ‘ explains @IISS_org‘s Research Fellow @fab_hinz pic.twitter.com/soWbHh4mKS
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) December 15, 2023
In an effort to harm Israel following October 7, the Houthi movement has also initiated an economic war against the Jewish state, reducing traffic by 80% at its southern port in Eilat and forcing Israeli shipping companies to move in a circuitous route, raising the prices of goods in Israel.
However, the brazenness of the Houthis’ hostilities toward Israel might be its undoing, as it has set itself against not only Israel but major regional and international powers with a vested interest in protecting the critical Red Sea shipping route.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post By Air & By Water: The Houthi War Against Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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As Gaza War Continues, Hamas Calls for Global Protests While Israel Marks Breakthroughs in Medical Innovation
A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect
As the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas calls for global protests amid stalled Gaza ceasefire talks, Israel has broken new ground despite the ongoing conflict, achieving a major medical breakthrough in synthetic human kidney development.
The contrast illustrates a stark contrast between the priorities of Hamas, an international designated terrorist group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, and Israel, the lone democracy in the Middle East that has long been a leader in tech and medical innovation.
On Wednesday, Hamas urged worldwide protests in support of Palestinians, calling on the international community “to denounce Israel’s genocidal war and starvation policy in Gaza.”
“We call for continuing and escalating the popular pressure in all cities and squares on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday … through rallies, demonstrations and sit-ins outside the embassies of the Israeli regime and its allies, particularly in the US,” the statement read.
The Palestinian terrorist group also called to expose what it described as “the terrorism of the Zio-Nazi occupation against defenseless civilians.”
Hamas’s latest move against Israel comes amid stalled indirect negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal, which collapsed last month after the group vowed it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established — rejecting a key Israeli demand to end the war in Gaza.
In its statement, Hamas demanded the opening of all border crossings to allow immediate aid into the war-torn enclave and urged a global condemnation of “the international community’s inaction on the Israeli crimes.”
Amid mounting international pressure to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israel announced new measures to facilitate the delivery of aid, including temporary pauses in fighting in certain areas and the creation of protected routes for aid convoys.
Israeli officials have previously accused Hamas of diverting aid for terrorist activities and selling supplies at inflated prices to civilians, while also blaming the United Nations and other foreign organizations for enabling this diversion.
Hamas’s statement also emphasized that the “global resistance movement must continue until Israeli aggression on Gaza ends and the siege on the coastal strip is lifted.”
Meanwhile, as Israel faces escalating hostilities and the heavy toll of war, the Jewish state continues to push the boundaries of innovation and resilience, achieving new medical breakthroughs while confronting ongoing challenges.
In a major medical breakthrough, scientists at Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University have successfully grown a synthetic 3D miniature human kidney in a lab using specialized stem cells derived from kidney tissue — one of the most promising advances in regenerative medicine.
Dr. Dror Harats, chairman of Sheba’s Research Authority, described this achievement as a reflection of Israel’s leading role in global medical innovation.
“Despite growing efforts to isolate Israel from international science, breakthroughs like this prove our impact is both lasting and essential,” he said.
In a landmark study, a team from Sheba’s Safra Children’s Hospital and Tel Aviv University’s Sagol Center for Regenerative Medicine created synthetic kidney organs that matured and remained stable for 34 weeks — the longest-lasting and most refined kidney organoids developed to date.
Nearly a decade ago, the research team became the first to successfully isolate human kidney tissue stem cells — the cells responsible for the organ’s development and growth.
Previous attempts to grow kidneys in a lab using general-purpose stem cells were short-lived, typically lasting only a few weeks and often producing unwanted cell types that compromised research accuracy.
However, this Israeli research team used stem cells taken directly from kidney tissue — cells that naturally develop into kidney parts — allowing them to create a much purer and more stable model with key features found in real kidneys.
This medical breakthrough could have far-reaching implications, redefining the current understanding of kidney diseases and advancing the development of innovative treatments.
Researchers believe the model could help assess how medications impact fetal kidneys during pregnancy and move science closer to repairing or replacing damaged kidney tissue with lab-grown cells.
The discovery came days after researchers from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and international partners discovered a way to boost the immune system’s cancer-fighting ability by reprogramming how T cells, which are white blood cells critical to the immune system, produce energy.
The researchers explained in a study published in the peer-reviewed Nature Communications that disabling a protein known as Ant2 in T cells greatly enhances their effectiveness against tumors.
“By disabling Ant2, we triggered a complete shift in how T cells produce and use energy,” Prof. Michael Berger of Hebrew University’s Faculty of Medicine, who co-led the study with doctorate student Omri Yosef, told the Tazpit Press Service. “This reprogramming made them significantly better at recognizing and killing cancer cells.”
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Netherlands to Push EU to Suspend Israel Trade Deal but Won’t Recognize Palestinian State ‘At This Time’
Netherlands Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp addresses a press conference, in New Delhi on April 1, 2025. Photo: ANI Photo/Sanjay Sharma via Reuters Connect
The Netherlands is spearheading efforts to suspend the European Union-Israel trade agreement amid rising EU criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, while simultaneously refusing to recognize a Palestinian state, contrasting with other member states as international pressure mounts.
On Thursday, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp announced that the Netherlands will push the EU to suspend the trade component of the EU-Israel Association Agreement — a pact governing the EU’s political and economic ties with the Jewish state.
This latest anti-Israel initiative follows a recent EU-commissioned report accusing Israel of committing “indiscriminate attacks … starvation … torture … [and] apartheid” against Palestinians in Gaza during its military campaign against Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist group.
Following calls from a majority of EU member states for a formal investigation, this report built on Belgium’s recent decision to review Israel’s compliance with the trade agreement, a process initiated by the Netherlands and led by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.
According to the report, “there are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations” under the 25-year-old EU-Israel Association Agreement.
While the document acknowledges the reality of violence by Hamas, it states that this issue lies outside its scope — failing to address the Palestinian terrorist group’s role in sparking the current war with its bloody rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israeli officials have slammed the report as factually incorrect and morally flawed, noting that Hamas embeds its military infrastructure within civilian targets and Israel’s army takes extensive precautions to try and avoid civilian casualties.
In a Dutch parliamentary debate on Gaza on Thursday, Veldkamp also announced that the government would not recognize a Palestinian state for now — a position that stands in sharp contrast to the recent moves by several other EU member states to extend recognition.
“The Netherlands is not planning to recognize a Palestinian state at this time,” the Dutch diplomat said.
“This war has ceased to be a just war and is now leading to the erosion of Israel’s own security and identity,” he continued.
This latest decision goes against the position of several EU member states, including France, which has committed to recognizing Palestinian statehood in September.
The United Kingdom has likewise indicated it will do so unless Israel acts to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and agrees to a ceasefire.
For its part, Germany said it was not planning to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term, and Italy argued that recognition must occur simultaneously with the recognition of Israel by the new entity.
Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Slovenia all recognized a Palestinian state last year.
Israel has been facing growing pressure from several EU member states seeking to undermine its defensive campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
On Thursday, European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera strongly condemned Israel’s actions in the war-torn enclave, describing the situation as a “grave violation of human dignity.”
“What we are seeing is a concrete population being targeted, killed and condemned to starve to death,” Ribera told Politico. “If it is not genocide, it looks very much like the definition used to express its meaning.”
Until now, the European Commission has refrained from accusing Israel of genocide, but Ribera’s comments mark one of the strongest European condemnations since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
She also called on the EU to take decisive action by considering the suspension of its trade agreement with Israel and the implementation of sanctions, while emphasizing that such measures would require unanimous approval from all member states.
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Graduate Student Unions Promoting Antisemitism, Reform Group Says
Students listen to a speech at a protest encampment at Stanford University in Stanford, California US, on April 26, 2024. Photo: Carlos Barria via Reuters Connect.
Higher-education-based unions controlled by United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) are rife with antisemitism and anti-Zionist discrimination, according to a new letter imploring the US Congress’s House Committee on Education and the Workforce to address the matter.
“Tracing its roots to communism in the 1930s, the UE is a radical, pro-Hamas labor union that has a long history of antisemitism,” the National Right to Work Foundation (NRTW), one of the US’s leading labor reform groups, wrote on July 30 in a message obtained by The Algemeiner. “The UE openly supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which is designed to cripple and destroy Israel economically. Today, the UE furthers its antisemitic agenda by unionizing graduate students on college campuses and using its exclusive representation powers to create a hostile environment for Jewish students. The hostile environment includes demanding compulsory dues to fund the UE’s abhorrent activities.”
NRTW went on to describe a litany of alleged injustices to which UE members subject Jewish student-employees in the US’s most prestigious institutions of higher education, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to Cornell University. At MIT, the letter said, “union officers” aided a riotous group which illegally occupied a section of campus with a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” participating in the demonstration and even denying access to campus buildings. UE members at Stanford University, meanwhile, allegedly denied religious accommodations to Jewish students who requested exemption from union dues over that branch’s supporting the BDS movement. And Cornell University UE was accused of denying religious exemptions in several cases as well and followed up the rejection with an intrusive “questionnaire” which probed Jewish students for “legally-irrelevant information.”
The situation requires federal oversight and intervention, NRTW said, including Congress’s possibly clarifying that student-employees are not traditional employees and are therefore afforded protections under sections of the Civil Rights Act which apply to the campus.
“These continuing patterns of antisemitism are illegal, immoral, and must be stopped,” the letter continued. “We encourage you to do all that is in your power to investigate and help bring an end to the UE and its affiliates’ nonstop harassment and intimidation of Jewish students … The Trump administration can also use tools available to it under Title VI and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act against colleges who work with unions to create a hostile environment for Jewish students.”
July’s letter is not the first time NRTW has publicized alleged antisemitic abuse in unions representing higher education employees.
In 2024, it represented a group of six City University of New York (CUNY) professors, five of whom are Jewish, who sued to be “freed” from CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress (PSC-CUNY) over its passing a resolution during Israel’s May 2021 war with Hamas which declared solidarity with Palestinians and accused the Jewish state of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and crimes against humanity. The group contested New York State’s “Taylor Law,” which it said chained the professors to the union’s “bargaining unit” and denied their right to freedom of speech and association by forcing them to be represented in negotiations by an organization they claim holds antisemitic views.
That same year, NRTW prevailed in a discrimination suit filed to exempt another cohort of Jewish MIT students from paying dues to the Graduate Student Union (GSU). The students had attempted to resist financially supporting GSU’s anti-Zionism, but the union bosses attempted to coerce their compliance, telling them that “no principles, teachings, or tenets of Judaism prohibit membership in or the payment of dues or fees” to the union.
“All Americans should have a right to protect their money from going to union bosses they don’t support, whether those objections are based on religion, politics, or any other reason,” NRTW said at the time.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.