SETTLING SCORES AT THE
RED SEA
Why are Bibi Netanyahu
and his coterie of supremacists biting off more than they can chew? Growing
clamour for Bibi to go before it's too late
By Sidney Hey
Despite the fact that Israel continues to
violate all the limitations of the international humanitarian law and that it
has been shown lately with the massacre in the “Jabalia” refugee camp and the
brutal seizure of the “Al Shifa” hospital and the expulsion of its patients in
order to install its Military Operations Headquarters in Gaza, the fights with
the Palestinian resistance continue on the ground fighting metre by metre with
other Arab-Islamic forces joining in solidarity with their struggle.
When the Israeli bombardment of Gaza began, the
Yemeni resistance of the “Huties” did not hesitate to publicly condemn and
offer unconditional support to the Palestinian resistance. Beyond their
announcements, within hours of their publication, the Yemenis launched a
barrage of missiles and drones against Israeli installations in Eilat, which,
although several were intercepted, put the Tel Aviv regime on notice that the
Arabs (not their governments) would no longer tolerate the wanton crime of
their brethren.
Israel depends on the Red Sea as one of the
most important waterways for foreign trade and that is why the Yemenis, knowing
that this is what Tel Aviv is most concerned about, have focused on carrying
out their threat to raid and capture every Israeli vessel bound for their ports
that passes through the Bab Al Mandab strait.
Although the Israelis did not take these threats as a joke (carrying armed teams on their ships), the Yemenis have been attacking and capturing Israeli merchant ships, some of which are owned by big oligarchs as was the case with the capture of the ship “Galaxy Leader”, owned by Israeli businessman Abraham Unger who, despite the fact that he has insured the ship and its cargo, does not endear him to Bibi Netanyahu and his circle of racists.
The assault by Yemeni airborne commandos in a “Mil-Mi
8” helicopter was swift and the entire crew was quickly taken out. A detail
that the Western and Israeli media overlooked was that the helicopter had
Yemeni and Palestinian flags as insignia on the fuselage, a direct political
message to the people in Tel Aviv and Washington.
Despite Israel's attempts to portray the case
as illegal actions committed against its assets, the political causes behind
these operations are above and beyond maritime law and beyond any attempt to
criminalise them.
The Americans were also already interfering in
the region, and as part of their strategic support for Riyadh's invasion of
Yemen, they deployed special forces and their Islamist hoaxes of “Al Qaeda” and
“ISIS”. Despite this, the Yemenis have managed to counteract these operations
and have even been able to disrupt their growth.
The Israelis are also involved, albeit (as they
usually are) in a limited and covert way.
The current circumstances in which these
actions are taking place cannot be taken lightly and the Israeli intelligence
brains know this very well. The “Ansar Allah” (Sword of God) militias are not
groups of improvised shepherds and their combat capabilities are amply demonstrated.
As has already been made clear, the Yemeni
resistance did not stop at threats or mere declamations as other Arab countries
have done. The best way to demonstrate their solidarity and closeness to the
Palestinian struggle was to get down to work. It has also shown that they do
not need to have a sophisticated navy to conduct naval operations (at least
tactically) to strike an enemy. The Saudi and Emirati navies can testify to
this and are surely already being secretly consulted by Israeli attachés.
The capture of the Israeli vessel was just one
way of repaying for the genocide in Gaza but, in the event that Tel Aviv
intends to orchestrate a sting operation to retaliate against the Houties, they
have other far more convincing and damaging means of preventing Israeli vessels
from crossing the adjacent waters with impunity.
Israeli commanders already have enough of a
headache with the material losses and casualties they are taking in Gaza to
have to add more setbacks like the one they suffered at their base in Eritrea.
What is happening to their vessels in the Red Sea is an issue they cannot ignore,
as the flow of business is at stake.
It is also certain that Tel Aviv is trying to
influence the pro-Saudi sectors inside Yemen in order to create discord with
the Huties, the main members of the Yemeni Arab resistance who are staunchly
loyal to the Palestinian cause.
Of course, the leaderships of the “Ansar Allah”
organisation and other Arab groups supporting the same cause are well aware of
the long-standing underground connections -especially between the Mukhabarat
and the Mossad- between the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv and the Saudi royal
house. That is why the Huties would not be surprised if (as they did with Iraq
in 1980 and after 2003), the Israelis launch an incursion from the east, which
can only be done with the complicity of Saudi air surveillance which is itself
controlled by US electronic surveillance.
The example of the Houtie resistance is a
powerful political signal that can be said to send a message to Arab
governments (especially the monarchies) that maintain this odious pragmatic
stance towards the Palestinian situation and at the same time a message of
strength and hope to the Arab-Islamic peoples who watch helpless and even in a
certain sense powerless as the IDF massacres the civilian population of the
Gaza Strip and attacks the Palestinians of the West Bank and Jerusalem. For the
latter, the actions of the Yemeni resistance are an encouragement and an
inspiration to step up aid to the Palestinians.