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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.
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Drexel University Professor Stole Signs From Synagogue, Police Say
Illustrative: People pass a cluster of signs outside a pro-Hamas encampment at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. on April 28, 2024. Photo: Max Herman via Reuters Connect
A Drexel University professor allegedly participated in a mass theft of items from a synagogue in a suburb outside Philadelphia, a local NBC affiliate reported on Tuesday.
Mariana Chilton, 56, a professor of health management and policy at Drexel, has been accused of stealing pro-Israel signs from the Main Line Reform Temple in Lower Merion Township, traveling there from her neighborhood of residency, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. Chilton allegedly drove the getaway car while two other accomplices, Sarah Prickett and Sam Penn — who is from New York — trespassed the synagogue and absconded with the loot.
“We are just taking them because we feel like it is a representative of genocide,” Chilton told law enforcement after being caught in the act, the report stated. She then, after offering to “just put them back,” refused to identify herself and comply with other lawful orders.
Video evidence provided by a local resident placed Chilton and her accomplices at the scene of the crime, and a Main Line Reform Temple official identified the signs recovered from her car as the temple’s property. That was enough for law enforcement to charge her with several offenses, including conspiracy and theft. She is also charged with driving without a license and not registering her vehicle.
Drexel University has not responded to The Algemeiner‘s request for comment for this story.
Experts have told The Algemeiner in the past academic year that while the conduct of anti-Zionist students should be reported on, the role of faculty in fostering and engaging in antisemitic acts should be closely scrutinized. Last semester, anti-Zionist faculty attached themselves to anti-Israel, pro-Hamas demonstrations, sometimes breaking the law by preventing officers from dispersing unauthorized demonstrations and detaining lawbreakers.
At Northeastern University in Boston, professors formed a human barrier around a student encampment to stop its dismantling by officers, and at Columbia University, anti-Zionist faculty at the school, as well its affiliate Barnard College, staged a walkout in support of the demonstrations and demanded the abeyance of disciplinary sanctions against anti-Zionist students — dozens of whom cheered Hamas and threatened more massacres of Jews similar to Oct. 7 — who violated school rules.
Chilton’s case is unlike any other reported in the past year, however. While dozens of professors have been accused of abusing their Jewish students and encouraging their classmates to bully and shame them, none are alleged to have resorted to stealing from a Jewish house of worship to make their point.
Mass participation of faculty in pro-Hamas demonstrations marks an inflection point in American history, Asaf Romirowsky, an expert on the Middle East and executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, told The Algemeiner in April.
Since the 1960s, he explained, far-left “scholar activists” have gradually seized control of the higher education system, tailoring admissions processes and the curricula to foster ideological radicalism and conformity, which students then carry with them into careers in government, law, corporate America, and education. This system, he concluded, must be challenged.
“The cost of trading scholarship for political propagandizing has been a zeal and pride among faculty who esteem and cheer terrorism, a historical development which is quite telling and indicative of the evolution of the Marxist ideology which has been seeping into the academy since the 1960s,” Romirowsky said. “The message is very clear to all of us who are looking on from the outside at this, and institutions have to begin drawing a red line. The protests are not about free speech. They are about supporting terrorism, about calling for a genocide of Jews.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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White House Cites Biden Clash With Netanyahu Over Iran as Proof of President’s Mental Fitness
US President Joe Biden hosts the 2023 Teacher of the Year event at the White House in Washington, US, April 24, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Amid growing concerns over US President Joe Biden’s mental fitness, key White House officials are suggesting his foreign policy discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including a clash over how to respond to Iran’s unprecedented military attack on the Israeli homeland earlier this year, serve as evidence that he is still capable of leading from the Oval Office.
Biden and Netanyahu engaged in a heated back-and-forth in the immediate aftermath of Iran launching a massive missile and drone salvo at Israel in April, according to a new report by the New York Times. The US and other allies helped Israel shoot down nearly every drone and missile. The attack caused only one injury.
However, the Times revealed that while Netanyahu initially wanted to respond to Iran in a forceful way, Biden threatened to withhold US support in the event of a major Israeli retaliatory strike, arguing it would risk sparking a regional conflict in the Middle East.
“Aides present in the Situation Room the night that Iran hurled a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel portrayed a president in commanding form, lecturing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone to avoid a retaliatory escalation that would have inflamed the Middle East,” the Times reported. “‘Let me be crystal clear,’ Mr. Biden said. ‘If you launch a big attack on Iran, you’re on your own.’”
“Mr. Netanyahu pushed back hard, citing the need to respond in kind to deter future attacks,” the report continued. “‘You do this,’ Mr. Biden said forcefully, ‘and I’m out.’ Ultimately, the aides noted, Mr. Netanyahu scaled back his response.”
Israel’s military response was small and appeared aimed at minimizing the risk of escalation.
The Times report, headlined “Biden’s Lapses Are Said to Be Increasingly Common and Worrisome,” came on the heels of Biden delivering a widely-panned presidential debate performance last Thursday against former US President Donald Trump. Biden’s performance, which oftentimes appeared incoherent and muddled, set off alarm bells in Democratic circles, sending the president’s allies scrambling to extinguish concerns over his age and mental acuity.
While highlighting rising concerns, the news story also noted instances in which, according to aides, Biden appeared coherent and capable, citing the exchange with Netanyahu and his handling of the Iranian missile attack more broadly as one such example.
However, an anonymous Biden administration official told the Times that they are unsure whether Biden could hold his own against adversarial foreign leaders such as Vladimir Putin of Russia.
On Wednesday, the White House directly attributed quotes to Netanyahu in which the Israeli premier reportedly said he found Biden “very clear and very focused” during his visit to Israel following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. According to a White House spokesperson, Netanyahu also reportedly cited the “more than a dozen phone conversations, extended conversations with President Biden” as evidence of the commander-in-chief’s vitality.
“Some White House officials adamantly rejected the suggestion of a president not up to handling tough foreign counterparts and told the story of the night Iran attacked Israel in April,” the New York Times reported. “Mr. Biden and his top national security officials were in the Situation Room for hours, bracing for the attack, which came around midnight. Biden was updated in real time as the forces he ordered into the region began shooting down Iranian missiles and drones. He peppered leaders with questions throughout the response.”
During its first direct attack on Israeli territory, Iran in April launched roughly 300 missiles and drones at the Jewish state.
Leading up to the attack, Iranian officials had promised revenge for an airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria that they attributed to Israel. The strike killed seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a widely designated terrorist organization, including two senior commanders. One of the commanders allegedly helped plan the Hamas terrorist group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the incident.
“After it was over, and almost all of the missiles and drones had been shot down, Mr. Biden called Mr. Netanyahu to persuade him not to escalate. ‘Take the win,’” Mr. Biden told the prime minister, without reading from a script or extensive notes, according to two people in the room. In the end, Mr. Netanyahu opted for a much smaller and proportionate response that effectively ended the hostilities,” the article added.
Days later, Israel responded to the Iranian aggression by launching a modest missile attack on an airbase near Isfahan. The Jewish state sought to show that it could effectively target key strategic locations in Iran while not escalating the conflict any further. Netanyahu insisted on launching a retaliatory attack against Iran, arguing that ignoring the Iranian strikes would incentivize more attacks against the Jewish state.
IRGC Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said that Iran is waiting for “the opportunity” to launch a new round of strikes against Israel, Iranian media reported on Tuesday, potentially boosting Netanyahu’s argument that a smaller response would invite further attacks.
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Journalist at US-Based Nonprofit Promoted Stabbing Israelis, Depicted Rescued Hostage as Pig Drinking Blood: Report
Palestinian terrorists ride an Israeli military vehicle that was seized by gunmen who infiltrated areas of southern Israel, in the northern Gaza Strip, Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Zakot
A journalist at a US-based nonprofit posted tutorials on how to commit stabbing attacks and depicted a rescued Israeli hostage as a pig drinking blood, according to newly surfaced social media posts.
Eitan Fischberger, a communications analyst and former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) staff sergeant who first broke the story on X/Twitter, alleged that Mahmoud Ajjour, a correspondent for The Palestine Chronicle, posted disturbing images and videos to his Instagram page.
Fischberger posted screenshots and screen recordings of the posts.
According to The Chronicle‘s website, Ajjour is a photojournalist and correspondent for the outlet, which is a US-based 501c3, or nonprofit organization.
One of the posted images depicted Noa Argamani — an Israeli who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival during Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel, and then rescued in an IDF special operation last month — as a pig drinking blood from a Coca-Cola bottle.
Here, for example, Ajjour posted a picture of Israeli hostage Noa Argamani, portrayed as a pig drinking the blood of Palestinians.
Noa, as you recall, was freed by Israeli forces in the same rescue operation in which Ajjour’s terrorist colleague was killed pic.twitter.com/oiLCqekxbl
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) June 30, 2024
In Oct. 2015, Ajjour posted a picture of a masked Palestinian holding up a knife, with the caption, “I declare it a revolution.”
That time — from approximately Sept. 2015 to June 2016 — was referred to as the “knife intifada,” as there was an uptick in Palestinian terrorist attacks, particularly using knives, against Israelis in Jerusalem, along with other parts of Israel and the West Bank.
Ajjour also seems mighty fine endorsing stabbing attacks pic.twitter.com/xi2MnZVddl
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) June 30, 2024
During that same month, Ajjour also reportedly posted a two-part tutorial on how to carry out stabbings with the caption, “May Allah protect them,” likely referring to those who were engaging in such attacks.
So much, in fact, that he uploaded a two-part instruction video showing off some best practices for stabbing Israelis pic.twitter.com/Z12rVo4Enx
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) June 30, 2024
Then, in 2023, after the son of a Hamas preacher was killed when a device he was trying to launch at Israel exploded, Ajjour mourned his death on Instagram. “Your father’s legacy is proud of you,” he wrote alongside a picture that included what appeared to be a Hamas flag.
And here, Ajjour mourns the death of Bara’a al-Zard, son of Hamas preacher Wael al-Zard.
Silly Bara’a died in an explosion caused by a device he was trying to launch at Israeli forces near the Gaza security fencehttps://t.co/vZR6IW0shF pic.twitter.com/ipQw55BYd7
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) June 30, 2024
This is not the first time a journalist from The Palestine Chronicle was alleged to have either supported or partaken in terrorism.
Abdallah Aljamal, who was a correspondent for The Chronicle, allegedly held three Israeli hostages in his home, according to the Israeli government. He was killed during a raid that rescued four hostages, including Argamani. After the allegations came to light, The Chronicle changed Aljamal’s status on its website from a correspondent to a contributor.
The Palestine Chronicle did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Fichberger wrote that he wants the US House Ways and Means Committee to investigate The Chronicle for what seems to have become a pattern.
“If The Chronicle is let off the hook for employing an actual terrorist hostage-taker, it would prove that the American counter-terror legal apparatus really is irreparably broken,” he wrote.
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