After the Houthis fired cluster bombs at Israel, the world remained deafly silent.
By Rachel Avraham
On Sunday, news broke that last Friday nights missile attack utilized cluster bombs. This represents the first time that the Houthis fired cluster bombs at Israel. Even though cluster bombs are banned by 100 countries and prominent human rights organizations frequently argue that the use of cluster bombs violates international law, Amnesty International has still not uttered a peep about the Houthis dispatching a cluster bomb to Israel last Friday night. In fact, their lead story is “Surveillance threats to pro-Palestine protesters and migrants,” as if the authorities monitoring Hamas supporters in the West is a graver threat to human rights than the Houthis firing cluster bombs on Israel.
Human Rights Watch is not much better than Amnesty International. One of their lead stories is “Despite efforts to shift blame, Israeli policies are starving children.” While it is a fact that the Palestinian population in Gaza is suffering a grave humanitarian crisis, any attempt to blame anyone but Hamas for the suffering of the Gazan people actually just makes the humanitarian crisis worse for it gives Hamas the ammunition that it needs to stay in power, prolong the war and not release the hostages. This policy of empowering Hamas and blaming Israel of course adversely affects women and children in the Gaza Strip, first and foremost for it lets those responsible for starvation in Gaza off the hook and places the blame on people who are actively sending thousands of trucks full of humanitarian aid to the coastal strip, hoping to avert a humanitarian crisis.
While Human Rights Watch joined the bandwagon of blaming Israel for starvation in the Gaza Strip, they failed to condemn the Houthis so far for firing cluster bombs on Israel. For me, this was a great disappointment, as I was delighted when they decided despite their anti-Israel bias to release a report condemning the Islamic Republic of Iran for firing cluster bombs on Israel. I was hoping that just for a day, Human Rights Watch could put aside their anti-Israel bias and do the same thing for the Houthis. However, so far, they have proven themselves to be a disappointment.
In fact, other than the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, so far, no world leaders, no UN officials and no major organizations have issued condemnations of the Houthis for firing cluster bombs on Israel. The fact that the UN is silent is surprising, given that this is the same terror organization that is holding UN workers hostage. However, no UN official has thus far made a public statement condemning the Houthis for targeting Israel with cluster bombs, even as the UN engages in talks with the legitimate Yemenite government on ending the civil war in the country. Even US President Donald Trump, an ardent supporter of the State of Israel, remained silent after it was published that the Houthis attacked Israel with cluster bombs.
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies should be commended for their declarations, as no other major Western organization made them. Mark Montgomery, senior fellow and senior director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Center on Cyber and Technology, stated: “The Houthis’ use of cluster munitions is a big concern, not just because it’s a harder target to engage, but even more concerning is that it indicates the provision of increasingly challenging munitions to the Houthis. Israel’s strikes in Yemen are a justified response, aimed at degrading the Houthis’ ability to launch further attacks and demonstrating the consequences of their actions. These attacks should probably extend to the Houthis’ main supporter — Iran.”
Enia Krivine, senior director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Israel program and national security network, stated: “By targeting Israel with Iranian-made cluster munitions, the Houthis have significantly escalated the conflict with the Jewish state. Unfortunately, the terror group is following the same playbook as Hamas: attempting to kill as many Israelis as possible by all means necessary, despite the cost to the Yemeni civilians in their midst.”
Bridget Toomey, research analyst, added: “Iran continues to arm the Houthis for attacks against Israel after the end of the direct conflict between Jerusalem and Tehran. Israeli strikes against Houthi infrastructure are a necessary but insufficient response. These airstrikes have had real consequences for the Houthis, for example, damage to Hodeidah port has complicated weapons smuggling efforts. However, the Islamic Republic also needs to be held accountable for the terrorism it enables across the region.”
The time has come for the world to wake up and to condemn the Houthis for firing cluster bombs at the State of Israel. Failure to do so grants legitimacy for the use of a lethal weapon that is banned by 100 countries being utilized to target innocent civilian populations across the globe.
Photo from Hindustan Times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlSmJibJCDE
