Houthis: Solidarity Not Terrorism by Donald Ramotar

Jan 14, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

Since late last year the Houthis of Yemen have taken actions in solidarity with the besieged Palestinian people. At a time when the whole world looked on at the carpet bombing of Gaza, the blowing to smithereens of human beings and people stood helplessly looking at their T.V screens.

The UN Security Council and General Assembly were paralyzed by the US use of their veto power to derail all the resolutions that called for a cease fire. Indeed, so distressing the situation had become that one wondered where were decisions of the US administration taken in regard to the Middle East, in West Jerusalem or in Washington? The US administration at times appeared to be the junior partner in its relationship with Israel.

In these conditions the Houthis began to take measures to halt the indiscriminate killings and massive destruction of property. They began firing missiles into Israel. This had little effect on Israel’s aggression since many of their rockets were shot down by US warships in the Red Sea and by Israeli’s Iron Dome anti-missile defense system.

Instead of halting the attacks the Israeli Defense Force became even more aggressive in their acts of destruction.

That forced the Houthis to hit where it hurts most, that is at Israel’s economy. It began to target ships going to and from Israel and ships owned by Israelis.

This caught the attention of the world as now more than one country would be affected because it began to affect International Trade. The hope here was that this pressure would have resulted in Israel rethinking its murderous policies and relent on the killings of innocent civilians. It appears that they thought that other countries would join to pressure Israel to halt the genocide and push Israel to the negotiating table.

Unfortunately, it did not, instead led to the US and UK bombing Yemen. They chose to use their power, not to get negotiations going but to prevent solidarity to the Palestinians in Gaza from succeeding.

There are those who criticize the Houthis on the ground that their action in attacking ships would carry up the cost of goods imported in various countries. The narrowness of this view is unbelievable. This, in a sense, is putting a “little inconvenience” by consumers above human lives. I am sure that some who have that view, did not see it that way, however that is precisely where the logic would lead to.

What the Houthis are doing is paying with their blood for the support they are giving to stop the massacre in Gaza. This is genuine solidarity and should be commended not condemned!

Donald Ramotar

Donald Ramotar, General Assembly, human, Palestinian, terrorism

Latest News