There will be no peace in the Holy Land until the Houthis are toppled in Yemen.
By Rachel Avraham
Since the October 7th massacre, the Houthis have been firing ballistic missiles at Israel in solidarity with Hamas. Even after Israel obtained a cease-fire with Hezbollah and made strategic gains in Gaza, the people of Israel were not able to enjoy peace, quiet and stability because there was still the Houthi threat. In order to respect US President Donald Trump, in recent times, Israel has permitted the Americans to respond to the Houthis and has focused on other arenas. But after the Houthis launched a missile that landed near Ben-Gurion International Airport, it has become imperative for the State of Israel to seek regime change in Yemen and to not just leave it to the Americans to handle the Houthi menace.
The Houthis are known for their virulent antisemitism. According to the US State Department Report on Religious Freedom, “Houthi imams and Islamic scholars have continued to use the antisemitic slogan, “Allah is great, death to America, death to Israel, curses upon the Jews, victory to Islam.” This slogan is taught to Yemeni children at Houthi “summer camps,” and videos have circulated on social media of Houthi militiamen chanting it while giving the Nazi salute. Houthi-controlled media broadcast antisemitic statements and sermons. In June 2022, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi described Jewish neighborhoods during the time of the Prophet Muhammad “as known for [their] dirt, filth and foul smell” and claimed that the Prophet told his followers “not to be like the Jews.””
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the eradication of the State of Israel is a pivotal component of Houthi ideology and the Houthis make this apparent to everyone: “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.””
The American Jewish Committee proclaimed, “While the majority of Yemen’s Jewish population, which once totaled 50,000, had left decades ago, the small amount that has remained has come under increasing persecution which started under former President Ali Abdullah Saleh but intensified under the Houthis, including the imprisonment of Levi Marhabi, who has been held by the Houthis since 2016, according to a United Nations report released in 2022.” Marhabi was arrested for allegedly seeking to smuggle a Torah scroll out of Yemen. There are reports that he has been tortured and is suffering from deteriorating health. According to the US State Department report, “Additionally, the Houthis have also targeted other religious minorities, including Christians and members of the Baha’i community.”
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel jointly with the United States has dropped 50 munitions on Houthi targets in Yemen, after the Houthis targeted Ben-Gurion International Airport. While this response does help somewhere to restore the deterrence that Israel lost after the attack on Ben-Gurion International Airport, it still merely represents a cosmetic response to an ongoing menace, which should be dealt with more thoroughly.
“Targeting civilian airports is a blatant act of terrorism,” Summer Ahmed, Foreign Affairs Representative of the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) of South Yemen to the United Nations, exclaimed to the Jerusalem Post. “The attack on Ben Gurion Airport is part of a broader pattern of Houthi aggression, backed by Iran, which has turned Houthi-controlled North Yemen into a launchpad for regional instability.”
“The Houthis have also used Iranian missiles and drones to attack airports and civilian infrastructure in South Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE,” Ahmed continued. “This should concern the international community deeply. The Houthis’ continued control of Sanaa and their militarization of humanitarian and political processes threaten all prospects for peace. A viable solution must combine political pressure, sanctions, and support to local forces resisting Houthi expansion, particularly in the South.”
Since 2017, Yemen has been divided between South Yemen, controlled by the STC, and North Yemen, controlled by the Houthis. When Ahmed of the STC agreed to be interviewed by the Jerusalem Post, she was indicating that South Yemen controlled by the STC and the Saudi-backed coalition is not a threat to Israel, yet these people aspire to topple the Houthis and reunite all of Yemen. When the Saudi coalition was fighting on their own against the Houthis backed by Iran, they failed to take full control of Yemen. However, if Israel were to help them reassert control, it could be a game-changer and then we can be rid of the Houthi menace once and for all.
According to the Sana’a Center for Strategic Relations, only eight percent of the Yemenite population holds a positive view of the Houthis. A human rights report issued by ” The Alliance of Women for Peace in Yemen” revealed that the Houthi militia committed more than 1,893 cases of abduction, torture, and rape against women from December 2017 to October 2022, including the abduction of 504 women imprisoned in the central prison in Sana’a, the abduction of 204 minors between the ages of 12 and 18, 283 cases of disappearances in secret prisons, and 193 illegal sentences on trumped-up charges of espionage, treason, and prostitution networks.
According to Human Rights Watch, “Houthi authorities have increasingly required women to travel with a mahram (a close male relative or their husband) or evidence of their written approval from their male guardian. The requirement has become de facto law throughout Houthi-controlled territory. The experts state that the Houthi’s Land Transport Regulatory Authority reportedly expanded the restrictions in August 2022, requiring that women no longer be permitted to travel anywhere within Houthi-controlled areas, to areas controlled by the Yemeni government, or outside the country without a mahram.”
According to Mwatana for Human Rights, a Yemeni human rights organization, “the Houthis have also impeded women’s access to health care since 2017, particularly reproductive health care. They have also increasingly imposed requirements on women’s dress, most recently requiring clothing shops selling women’s clothing to only sell long, black abayas to women, and barred women from many public places, including cafes and restaurants, as well as workplaces. In 2021, Houthi authorities sentenced four women, including Intisar al-Hammadi, a Yemeni actress and model, to between one and five years in prison on charges of committing an indecent act.”
However, women are not the only ones suffering under Houthi rule. According to Human Rights Watch, “Since May 31 of last year, the Houthis have arrested and forcibly disappeared dozens of people, including at least 17 staff of UN agencies and many employees of nongovernmental organizations, foreign embassies, and private companies operating in Houthi-controlled territories. The majority of those who were arrested still have not had any contact with their families, nor have they been given access to a lawyer. Many other people have been arbitrarily detained by Houthis due to their activism or work, or on fabricated charges, and after unfair trials, including 32 men on dubious charges of sodomy.”
According to Human Rights Watch, “Yemen remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. More than 18.2 million people need humanitarian assistance.” There are people in Houthi-controlled Yemen who are literally starving, yet the actions of the Houthis bar them from getting the aid that they desperately need. Given this, if Israel were to help the STC retake control of all of Yemen, most of the people in Yemen would likely be grateful and not mourn the loss of the Houthis. And from the standpoint of Israel’s security, only regime change in Sana’a can bring the Houthi threat to an end once and for all.
