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Missile Strikes Alone Will Not Defeat the Houthis
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
JNS.org – For two consecutive nights on Dec. 24 and 25, 2024, air raid sirens sent millions of Israelis for cover as the Houthi terror regime in Yemen each day fired a ballistic missile at the country.
Israel’s Arrow system intercepted those missiles, but before dawn on Dec. 21, a Houthi attack reportedly featured a re-entry warhead capable of maneuvering following separation from its engine. That missile was not intercepted and crashed into a Ramat Gan school. No one was injured as it was well before the school day.
Despite the IDF’s previous precision strikes on Yemeni energy infrastructure and ports, the threat persists. This suggests that additional offensive measures such as missiles may be necessary.
However, warned Israeli Navy Cmdr. (res.) Eyal Pinko, a researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, missile attacks alone will not be sufficient to end the threat.
“In my assessment, the Houthi leadership has gone underground. Their infrastructure, like missile bases and weapons storage sites, can be attacked [with missiles]. This will cause damage, but it won’t be enough to subdue them,” he told JNS on Wednesday.
According to Pinko, who also served in an intelligence organization, “We need a much more massive attack from the air and sea. The maritime threat has to be lifted, and not only their missile array. Since the Saudis and Egyptians struck them from the air for a duration of eight years and did not succeed in subduing them, I doubt that hitting them with missiles alone will succeed, including striking their infrastructure.”
Over the past 14 months, the Houthis have launched hundreds of missiles and UAVs targeting Israel. These attacks not only violate international law, but also pose a clear and ongoing threat to regional security and stability. In response, Israel has carried out a series of airstrikes targeting Houthi ports and energy infrastructure, showcasing the IDF’s long-range operational capabilities. However, the strikes also highlighted their inherent limitations.
2,000 kilometers
There are logistical and operational challenges associated with IAF missions over 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) away against an elusive enemy like the Houthis. As explained last week by IDF International Spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, these operations demand significant intelligence preparation, operational coordination, and time for implementation. For instance, the IAF strike on Dec. 19 required two separate waves of attacks involving 14 fighter jets and multiple aircraft types.
While the IDF has refined its ability to carry out such missions, these operations cannot match the speed and immediacy that missiles offer.
As it is impossible to prepare and execute an airstrike within minutes of receiving actionable intelligence or an order from manned aircraft, complementing the IAF’s impressive capabilities with missile firepower seems like a logical step. A missile-based attack system would enable Israel to launch immediate, weather-agnostic strikes in response to emerging threats. Furthermore, a ground-based missile corps would have a small maintenance and operational footprint without endangering aircrews.
Pinko added that it is critical to sever the Houthis’ supply line from Iran, to attack Sanaa, and to completely paralyze all of the Houthi infrastructure.
In recent years, the Houthi arsenal has grown increasingly sophisticated, with Iranian support playing a key role in transforming its ballistic and cruise missile capabilities. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spent over a decade ensuring that proxies such as Hezbollah and the Houthis possess advanced precision-guided weaponry, effectively creating a surrogate “air force.”
A large-scale attack on the Houthis, Pinko emphasized, “has to be a joint Israeli, American, British, Saudi and Egyptian operation.”
Israeli missiles, if they are acquired, alone may not be sufficient, but they can help further diversify Israel’s offensive toolkit. A missile corps would not only complement the IAF, but also provide options for rapid response and degrading Houthi infrastructure with minimal operational delays.
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Anti-Zionist Student Government President Convicted of Misconduct, Removed from Office at U of Michigan
University of Michigan PhD student, center, carries a sign that says ‘Free Speech! Free Palestine!’ at U-M’s Diag in Ann Arbor on April 4, 2024. Photo: Junfu Huan via Reuters Connect
The Central Student Government (CSG) of the University of Michigan has removed from office president Alifa Chowdhury — the controversial leader of the Anti-Zionist “Shut It Down” (SID) party who led a failed and unpopular effort to freeze funding for student clubs until school officials enacted a boycott of Israel — following her conviction on an impeachment charge.
Chowdhury faced three charges in total: incitement to violence, defamation, and dereliction of duty, the last of which she was found guilty on Dec. 23, according to a statement issued by the Central Student Judiciary (CSJ). Her vice president, Elias Atkinson, was convicted of the same offense.
“Today’s decision means that President Chowdhury and Vice President Atkinsonare removed from office with immediate effect, and that they are barred from holding CSG office in the future,” CSJ said, noting that its ruling marked the first ever expulsion of a CSG president. “It is not lost on us that today marks the culmination of the first impeachment proceeding in the Central Student Government’s history. Neither are we blind to the major political clashes — both within the Assembly and between the legislative and executive branches … But our decision today, and this court’s role, is beyond politics.”
It continued, “Impeachment is a constitutional process, an important element of CSG’s system of checks and balances. Although the Assembly’ role in triggering the impeachment process is essentially political, it is this court’s unflagging duty to resolve any impeachment process neutrally and impartially once the starter pistol has gone off. This court must be a steady ship in a sea tossed by raucous political winds.”
As The Algemeiner has previously reported, Chowdhury’s anti-Zionist zealotry led her to allegedly commit several disqualifying acts which blighted her office and shocked her CSG representatives. In the articles of impeachment filed by Rep. Margaret Peterman, the now-former president was described as having “gravely endangered” students — for example, by participating in a protest of CSG which led to threats and an assault by spitting — as well as the “integrity of the democratic system.” She also failed to perform key functions of the presidency, including submitting reports, preparing committee members for their roles, and convening meetings with CSG’s executive council — a pattern of neglect which led to her conviction for dereliction of duty.
The takeover of CSG by Chowdhury’s party, SID, in March led to a historically dysfunctional administration, prompting the involvement of school officials at key moments when its brinksmanship threatened to derail core functions of the university. In August, the administration resolved to fund student clubs over Chowdhury and SID’s objections, effectively stripping the new government of the power of the purse. Explaining the intervention to The Algemeiner at the time, university spokesperson Colleen Mastony said it was prompted by Chowdhury’s “senior” colleagues in the CSG Assembly.
Founded in the months after Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, SID allegedly committed multiple election code infractions to amass its unprecedented power. According to The Michigan Daily, students banded together to contest its election victory, citing multiple instances in which its members campaigned in proscribed areas and violated other rules regulating the use of posters and email communications. SID ultimately overcame the challenge following a controversial hearing which the student government, breaking precedent, conducted in secret.
After assuming power, Chowdury defunded the school’s 1,700 student clubs by vetoing the summer term budget, which had been “unanimously” supported by the CSG Assembly, and vowed to block any spending bill that would fund them in the fall term. The measure was, in SID’s view, strategic. It argued during the campaign that crippling university operations would inexorably lead to a boycott of Israel, a notion the university dispelled when it appropriated the funds anyway.
“CSG merely serves as an extension of an institution that has perpetuated systems of oppression by maintaining the current status quo of neocolonial capitalism,” the party said in a manifesto issued in March. “Every dollar coming out of this university is blood money. Student government cannot operate as usual as we witness the systematic murder of Palestinians. Student life cannot continue as normal when our tuition and labor are being used to fund a genocide.”
Those ideals manifested in the misconduct which have now disqualified Chowdhury and her vice president from ever holding a CSG position again.
“Today’s ruling is compelled by the All-Campus Constitution and the evidence,” the Central Student Judiciary said in explaining the convictions. “Our conclusions are a result of dozens of pages of briefing, the various evidentiary exhibits, and all the testimony and argument we heard over the course of a twenty two and a half hour hearing. Whatever political consequences might flow from our decision, we can only do our jobs.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Anti-Zionist Student Government President Convicted of Misconduct, Removed from Office at U of Michigan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Flag Burned Outside Stadium in Spain Before Hapoel Tel Aviv Basketball Game
An Israeli flag being burned outside the Gran Canaria Arena located in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain, ahead of a basketball game with Hapoel Tel Aviv. Photo: YouTube screenshot
Anti-Israel demonstrators set fire to an Israeli flag outside a sports arena in Spain’s Canary Islands, leading up to a basketball game featuring the Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv that is set to take place at the arena on Thursday.
Activists from the pro-Palestinian group Canarias Insumisa set the Israeli flag on fire outside the Gran Canaria Arena in Las Palmas, the local news outlet Canraia Ahora reported on Tuesday. The move was in protest of Israel’s military actions during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, and also in objection to the EuroCup basketball game taking place on Thursday at the Gran Canaria Arena between Hapoel Tel Aviv and the local team Gran Canaria.
The pro-Palestinian group claimed that the upcoming basketball game whitewashes the “genocide” that Israel is committing against the Palestinian people. The group also falsely accused Israel of murdering “47,000 girls, boys, women and men in one year” during its war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza who orchestrated the deadly terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Canrais Ahora called on local fans not to attend the basketball game on Thursday, claiming that Israeli fans of Hapoel Tel Aviv may try to provoke them. The group described Hapoel Tel Aviv fans as “aggressive Nazi-Zionist hooligan fanatics who will try to provoke, create conflicts and attack the followers of the Canarian team,” according to the news outlet Canraia Ahora. The group also criticized the owner of Gran Canaria, claiming he had the chance to prevent the local Spanish team from competing against Hapoel Tel Aviv, but refused to do so.
The flag burning took place almost two months after fans of the Israeli soccer team Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv were attacked in Amsterdam on Nov. 7 and into the early hours of Nov. 8. Five men behind the premeditated and coordinated attack were sentenced in Dutch court late last month to community service and up to six months in jail.
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Ford Motor Says X Account Was ‘Compromised’ by Anti-Israel Hackers Who Posted ‘Free Palestine’
Ford vehicles are displayed at the New York International Auto Show Press Preview, in Manhattan, New York City, US, March 27, 2024. Photo: Reuters/David Dee Delgado/
The Ford Motor Company said on Monday that its official account on X was “briefly compromised” by hackers who posted a series of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian messages, including one that called Israel a “terrorist state.”
“Our X account was briefly compromised and three posts were made that were not authorized or posted by Ford,” the company said in a statement shared on its X account. The American automobile manufacturer added that the posts “do not represent the views of [the] Ford Motor Company” and that together with X, the company is investigating the breach of its social media account.
The posts, which have since been deleted, included messages that said, “Israel is a terrorist state,” “Free Palestine” and “ALL EYES ON GAZA.” Hundreds of users on X reposted the messages and thousands “liked” them before they were removed. Many users on X noticed that Ford’s account had been hacked and took screenshots of the posts before they were deleted, including US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who said Ford’s account “must have been hacked by the Free Palestine movement.”
Ford Motor Company must have been hacked by the Free Palestine movement. pic.twitter.com/4VOk1nPy0n
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) December 30, 2024
Several users on X replied to Ford Motor’s statement by expressing frustration at the company’s lack of apology. Rabbi Samuel Stern, who co-chairs the Kansas State Holocaust Commemoration, asked, “I wonder if the unauthorized posts targeted anyone else if you would have apologized?”
“Companies founded by a notorious Antisemite and headquartered in Dearborn Michigan should really come up with a better apology to the Jewish community than this one,” said Joel Petlin, superintendent of the Kiryas Joel School District in Orange County, New York.
In 2023, Dearborn, Michigan, was the largest city in the US with an Arab-American majority, according to the University of Michigan.
The company’s founder, the late Henry Ford, publicly expressed antisemitic views and promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories. A close friend once recalled Ford attributing “all evil to Jews or to the Jewish capitalists,” and said he told others: “The Jews caused the war, the Jews caused the outbreak of thieving and robbery all over the country, the Jews caused the inefficiency of the navy.”
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