Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Iranian-backed terrorist group, said at the start of Ramadan, “If war returns to Gaza, we will rain fire upon all areas of the enemy regime [Israel], especially Tel Aviv, which is known as occupied Jaffa.”
By Rachel Avraham
According to a report in JNS, the Houthis have threatened to attack Tel Aviv if Israel resumes the fighting in Gaza in response to the collapse of the hostage/cease-fire deal with Hamas. Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Iranian-backed terrorist group, said at the start of Ramadan, “If war returns to Gaza, we will rain fire upon all areas of the enemy regime [Israel], especially Tel Aviv, which is known as occupied Jaffa.” Earlier in the month, Al Houthi claimed that his forces are ready “to respond immediately” if the fighting resumes in Gaza.
This announcement by the Houthis comes after Hamas rejected Israel’s request to extend phase one of the hostage deal for cease-fire and Israel cut off humanitarian aid into Gaza in order to pressure the terror group into agreeing with it. According to Haaretz, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that Netanyahu made the decision at the end of the first stage of the deal, “in light of Hamas’ refusal to accept the Witkoff outline for continuing the talks – which Israel agreed to.” According to the report, Netanyahu’s office added that “Israel will not allow a cease-fire without the release of the hostages,” and that there would be “further consequences” if Hamas continues its refusal.
On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump designated the Houthis (also called “Ansar Allah”), the Islamic Republic of Iran’s terror proxy in Yemen, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). According to the Anti-Defamation League, this adds to their previous designation under the Biden administration as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT). Together, the FTO and SDGT designations allow the US Government to target the Houthis more effectively.
The Anti-Defamation League wrote in a recent report that the Houthis have been launching missile and drone attacks against Israel in direct alliance with Hamas since October 19, 2023. According to the report, since then, they have regularly attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea, leading to a drop in overall Suez Canal traffic of at least 50 percent, and the case of dry-bulk, up to 80 percent. The ADL added that US and Royal Navy vessels sent to protect international shipping and help intercept Houthi missile attacks on Israel have also come under attack. In fact, the Anti-Defamation League noted that the US Navy’s activities against the Houthis now count as the most intense US Naval running sea battle since World War II.
The Anti-Defamation League noted that anti-Semitism has played a major role in Houthi ideology, which has prompted them to threaten Israel at this time: “Both Hussein al-Houthi – after whom the movement is named – and his brother, and current leader of the movement, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, studied in Qom in Iran. Abdul Malik also spent time in Hezbollah-controlled Southern Lebanon in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As a result, while the Houthis remain Zaydi in their faith, their movement took on the broader political outlook of the Khomeinist ideology that defines the regional and global aims of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its primary regional proxy, Hezbollah. The political influence of Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran helped establish antisemitism and anti-Americanism as core defining principles of the Houthi movement – something that is very evident in Hussein al-Houthi’s sermons as early as the 1990s.”
For example, the current moto of the Houthis proclaims: “God is great; Death to America; Death to Israel; A curse upon the Jews; victory to Islam.” In 2001, Hussein al-Houthi cites the infamous forgery, ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’, to claim that Jews are constantly plotting against Muslims: “Their aim is to corrupt us, to make us into disbelievers; that is what they want.” He went on to declare that “Jews and Christians are our true enemies.”
According to them, a children’s cartoon broadcast in March 2024 on the Houthis’ Shaba TV network, entitled “The Temporary Entity,” featured antisemitic indoctrination including child-characters swearing to “fight and annihilate [the Jews].” When a child character says “I would like to know about the most cunning enemies of the Muslims,” his counterparts reply “do you mean the Jews?” A group of child characters is then transported to 19th Century Budapest, where they are told “you should know that the whole world hated the Jews […] because of their evil moral values and because they are treacherous.” The cartoon goes on to portray Theadore Herzl as dreaming of the “political and economic control of the world.”
According to the American Jewish Committee, “The Houthis pose a significant threat to regional and global stability due to Yemen’s strategic location, particularly its control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. This critical chokepoint facilitates global commerce, including approximately 19,000 vessels annually—30% of global container traffic—and 10% of the world’s seaborne oil. Disruptions in this area could have severe implications for trade and energy supplies, impacting economies worldwide.”
They added, “The Houthis’ actions, including missile attacks on Israel and hijacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea, reflect their ambitions to project power beyond Yemen’s borders. Their leadership has explicitly threatened to target all ships bound for Israel, regardless of their origin, heightening risks to maritime security. Israel’s southern city of Eilat, a vital trade hub on the Red Sea, is particularly vulnerable. The group’s aggressive stance, coupled with its alignment with Iran, underscores an expansionist agenda that threatens not only regional players like Israel and Saudi Arabia but also the stability of critical global trade routes.”
