It’s not every day a country dares to ignore the mighty America. Most nations know that defying the US President may result in a stern warning, maybe a bit of diplomatic cold shoulder or, in the worst-case scenario, a new set of sanctions. But then again, not every leader is Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli Prime Minister seems to have perfected the art of dodging President Joe Biden’s advice – without much harm to himself.

Last week, the most powerful leader of the most powerful country found himself, shall we say, whining about ‘Bibi’ – as Netanyahu’s nickname goes – almost like a disappointed father admonishing his beloved but mischievous son. Answering a reporter in the hallowed White House, Biden wore a look of betrayal, complaining, “No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None. None. None. And I think Bibi should remember that.” The scene was shocking. Biden must have been so pained that his words felt less like diplomacy and more like a hapless parent wondering why his rebellious son does not listen to him anymore.

The reporter’s question was directly related to a nagging suspicion in Democratic Party circles that the Israeli Prime Minister was deliberately dragging his feet on a ceasefire in Gaza, proposed by Biden in May. Biden echoed that view and wondered whether Netanyahu was stalling the proposed ceasefire until the US Presidential election on November 5. The President said, “And whether he is trying to influence the election, I don’t know, but I am not counting on it”

Biden really shouldn’t have been shocked. After all, back when he was Vice-President under Obama, Netanyahu had the audacity to go right past the White House and address the Republican-dominated Congress to publicly trash the Iran nuclear deal. He was just biding his time, waiting for either Hillary or Trump to step in after the 2016 election and fix things. Then, Trump got elected. And what did he do? He cancelled the deal, handing Netanyahu exactly what he had been waiting for.

No One Is Sorry For Biden

Any sympathy for Biden’s heartbreak? There appears to be none. How ironic that now that he is on his way out, he is accusing Netanyahu of dragging his feet on a ceasefire. Up until now, Biden had been conveniently ignoring Bibi’s stalling tactics, instead pinning the blame squarely on Hamas every time talks broke down. Never mind that his own advisors and party leaders subtly hinted that Netanyahu wasn’t interested in any ceasefire deal-at least not until January 2025, when a new President enters the White House. It is obvious that Bibi is betting big on a Trump comeback. Under Trump’s Presidency, he believes he could have a free hand in West Asia.

Of course, no one’s suggesting that Israel is meddling in the US election. Right or wrong, the meddling accusations are reserved for China, Russia and Iran. But Biden’s point was clear: Netanyahu seems to be stalling the ceasefire, hoping to drag things out until the election. If a ceasefire happens earlier, Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris might get a boost. But if things stay messy, Netanyahu’s old buddy Trump could swoop back in-and wouldn’t that be a convenient reunion?

Senator Chris Murphy, who is a close friend of President Biden, recently told CNN, “I don’t think you have to be a hopeless cynic to read some of Israel’s actions, some of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s actions, as connected to the American election”. Several US mainstream newspapers had carried stories in September quoting US officials as saying that they did not believe a deal would be reached during Biden’s Presidency

American Presidents’ Badges Of Honour

Foreign policy, let’s be real, rarely moves the needle in a US election. Yet every presidential candidate somehow convinces himself that if he doesn’t stand rock-solid with Israel, his chances of winning will diminish – despite no evidence to back that up. Since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, every US president has proudly pledged to support Israel and zealously guarded its security. They worked tirelessly to broker peace deals between Israel and Palestinians or Arab nations. And those who succeeded at striking a peace deal wore it like a shiny badge of honour – even though some of those deals were, let’s just say, less than groundbreaking, and favoured Israel. A few examples:

• Camp David Accord, 1978. Jimmy Carter facilitated a historic peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, which led to Egypt recognising Israel and Israel returning the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt
• Oslo Accord, 1993. Bill Clinton successfully mediated the first face-to-face agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation(PLO), resulting in the Oslo Accord in 1993. It created a framework for future peace talks
• Roadmap for peace, 2003. George W. Bush pushed for a two-state solution through this agreement but he faced difficulties in implementing it
• Abraham Accords, 2020. Donald Trump brokered normalisation agreements for Israel with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, which reshaped West Asia relations. The next in line was a deal with Saudi Arabia, but last year’s deadly attack by Hamas on Israel derailed the peace process. Many critics of the accords argued that the agreements had completely sidestepped the Palestinians’ demands for a state

Biden’s Ironclad Support For Israel

In recent years, only two presidents – Joe Biden and his old boss Barack Obama – completely missed the peace deal train in West Asia, though Obama managed to strike a nuclear deal with Iran, which was later rescinded by Trump. Obama, in particular, had a famously chilly relationship with ‘Bibi’. In fact, it’s widely considered the worst personal dynamic ever between a US president and an Israeli prime minister. And that’s despite the two countries achieving peak security cooperation.

Biden may have failed to deliver any peace deal in West Asia, but make no mistake, under his presidency, Israel has got the maximum support. He has blindly backed Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza and refused to put conditions on US military aid. Therefore, he was not really wrong when he complained on Friday that “no administration has helped Israel more than I have”.

The US Is Already At War

For years, the US has maintained the fiction that it is an honest peace broker and a neutral mediator in West Asia. But America’s role in the West Asia crisis is a perfect example of mixed signals. On one hand, it is supposedly working tirelessly to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. On the other hand, it is arming Israel to the teeth, basically giving them the green light to keep pounding away in Gaza and Lebanon. And let’s not forget, Biden has made it crystal clear that he will jump to Israel’s defence if Iran even thinks about attacking them again. Honestly, many would argue that the US is already knee-deep in this conflict, considering it has helped Israel destroy Iranian missiles not once but twice since April, shares intel with the Israeli military daily, and has warships ready to roll in the Red Sea in defence of the Jewish state. This does not sound like a neutral referee in the region, does it?

The Trump administration finally dropped the mask when it openly sided with Israel against the Palestinians, which led to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declaring the US as an untrustworthy peace broker. What infuriated the Palestinians was that they were disregarded in the Abraham Accords signed between Israel and a clutch of Arab states. Additionally, Trump’s controversial decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem also angered the Palestinians.

Today, it is almost sickening to see how Biden is botching his ceasefire efforts by being unassertive. While he is blinded by his love for Israel, the world watches with bated breath, powerless to intervene. The UN Security Council has proven to be toothless. BRICS and G20 are disappointingly muted. It reminds this writer of a couple of lines from a Matthew Arnold poem, “Wandering between two worlds. One dead, the other powerless to be born”. 

(Syed Zubair Ahmed is a London-based senior Indian journalist with three decades of experience with the Western media)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Yemen’s Houthi rebels conducted drone strikes in Israel’s Tel Aviv early this morning, backing the Palestinian and Lebanese wars against Israel. The operation achieved its goals as the drones successfully reached their targets, the Houthis said in a statement.

“The Drone Air Force of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a military operation targeting a vital target in the Yaffa area “Tel Aviv” in occupied Palestine using several Yaffa drones. The operation successfully achieved its goals, with the drones reaching their targets without the enemy being able to intercept or down them,” said statement read.

The armed forces said the attack, which was part of its fifth phase of the “Battle of the Promised Conquest”, was in support of the people of Palestine and Lebanon, and Hamas’s “Al-Aqsa Flood”.

Houthis rebels, who control most parts of Yemen and consider Israel their enemy, entered the war in support of the Hamas after the conflict started in the Middle East last year. They are part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” against Israel and the United States.

Houthis have fired multiple missiles at Israeli cities while Israel has been conducting airstrikes in Yemen, targeting crucial infrastructure including power plants. Seaports used by Houthi rebels to transfer Iranian weapons also came under attack in recent times.

With a floundering economy and growing restrictions on personal freedoms, 10 years of Houthi rule has left its mark on Yemen’s ancient capital, Sanaa, where some quietly long for how things once were.

The Houthis, a radical political-military group from Yemen’s northern mountains, have imposed strict rule over the large swathe of Yemen under their control, covering two-thirds of the population.

Since the Iran-backed rebels took power in Sanaa in 2014, after long-running protests against the government, the country has gone “back 50 years”, sighed Yahya, 39, who like many prefers not to share his full name for fear of reprisals.

“Before, we thought about how to buy a car or a house. Now we think about how to feed ourselves,” added Abu Jawad, 45.

Already the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen has been devastated by war since 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition launched a failed campaign to dislodge the Houthis.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died through fighting or indirect causes like hunger and disease, with much of the infrastructure in ruins.

Yemen, mired in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, remains divided between the Houthis and the government, now based in the port city of Aden.

The Houthis, who adhere to the Zaidi branch of Shiite Islam and claim divine right to rule, have tightened their control over many aspects of daily life.

‘Men, women could sit together’

Sanaa, despite its conservatism, once had “political parties, active civic organisations, NGOs… coffee shops where males and females can sit together”, said researcher Maysaa Shuja al-Deen, of the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies.

“Now the social and political atmosphere has become very closed,” she added.

Men and women are segregated in public, and Houthi slogans like “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” are plastered everywhere, alongside photos of Houthi leaders, Deen said.

Since 2015, Amnesty International has documented numerous cases of activists, journalists and political opponents who were convicted on “trumped-up” espionage charges.

A wave of arrests in June targeted aid workers, including 13 United Nations staff who are still detained.

Majed, the director of a Yemeni non-governmental organisation, said he fled Sanaa for Aden before taking refuge with friends in Jordan, leaving behind his wife and three children.

“I made the decision without thinking too much. Leaving was a risky choice, but it was the only one,” the 45-year-old said from Amman, where he hopes to find a job.

According to Deen, a Yemeni who is also based outside the country, it is now difficult to go against the ruling authorities, or even fail to show support.

“At the very beginning, being silent was an option. Now it’s not even an option,” she said.

“You have to show that you are loyal to the Houthi ideology.”

The Houthis are adept at using social and traditional media, such as their Al-Masirah TV station, to spread propaganda, and have even revised school textbooks and changed the calendar.

The traditional holiday of September 26, which celebrated the 1962 revolution against the former imam, has been moved to September 21, the day the Houthis took power.

Some Yemenis chafe at the change. “Even if they forbid us from celebrating officially, we will celebrate it in our hearts,” said Abu Ahmed, 53, a Sanaa resident.

‘I dream of getting my life back’

However, support for the Houthis’ attacks since November against Israel and ships in the Red Sea, in solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war, seems to be unanimous.

“The Yemenis have always been pro-Palestinian,” said author and Yemen specialist Helen Lackner, highlighting the hundreds of thousands of people who join the Huthis’ weekly demonstrations in Sanaa.

Despite their popularity among ordinary people, the maritime attacks have halted negotiations conducted between the rebels and Saudi Arabia to end the war.

Rim, 43, who has lived with her family in neighbouring Saudi for nine years, has not been able to return to Sanaa to bury her father, or attend the weddings of her brothers and sisters.

“I dream of getting my life back,” said the 43-year-old. In the meantime, she is content to talk to her children about her country.

“I don’t want them to forget that they are Yemeni.”

Sanaa:

Yemen’s Houthi said on Saturday that they attacked a Liberia-flagged container vessel for a second time in the latest action against commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden.

Yemeni military spokesperson Yahya Saree’s televised statement did not specify when the latest attack on the MV Groton took place.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said in an advisory note that two missiles exploded on Friday in close proximity to the vessel, 130 nautical miles east of Yemen’s Aden. It said the crew was safe. There was no mention of damage to the vessel.

“The operation was carried out by the naval, UAV, and the missile forces … This is the second targeting of the ship since it was previously targeted on Aug. 3,” Saree said.

Houthi have sunk two vessels during a nine-month drone and missile campaign against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

They say their attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and likely will continue if a ceasefire is not reached.

In one of their most recent attacks, the Houthis carried out multiple assaults against Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, which is carrying about 1 million barrels of oil.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Israel said it shot down a missile launched from Yemen on Sunday and the Yemeni Houthi movement said it had fired several missiles at the Israeli city of Eilat after Israel’s first public strike against the Iran-aligned group a day earlier.

The Houthis have launched missiles and drones at Israel and disrupted global trade through the Red Sea in response to Israel’s assault on Gaza, further destabilising the Middle East as war in the Palestinian enclave rages on after nine months.

Israel says the Houthis have launched 200 attacks against it since the Gaza war began, many of them intercepted and most of them not deadly.

But a rare Houthi drone strike on Friday hit Tel Aviv and killed one person, prompting Israel to announce its first strikes against the group on Saturday. The strikes by warplanes hit near the Yemeni port of Hodeidah and killed six people, local medics said.

The Houthi movement, known formally as Ansar Allah, said on Sunday it would continue to attack Israel in response.

Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam told Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV there would be “no red lines … all sensitive institutions … will be a target for us.”

The Israeli military said its Arrow 3 missile defence system had shot down a surface-to-surface missile projectile launched from Yemen on Sunday before it crossed into Israeli territory.

Before the interception, air raid sirens sounded in the Red Sea port city of Eilat, sending residents running for shelter.

Sunday’s attack prolonged an escalation of violence between Israel and the Houthis that began with the Houthi drone strike that hit the centre of Tel Aviv on Friday. One man was killed and four other people were wounded, officials said.

The Israeli warplanes’ air raid on Hodeidah on Saturday killed six people and wounded more than 80, medical sources in Yemen told Reuters, describing all as civilians.

Images from the scene showed a fiery blaze and dense smoke rising from the site of the strike. A Houthi-run TV channel said the strikes had hit an oil facility and power station.

Israeli officials say Hodeidah port has been used by the Houthis to receive weapons shipments from Iran.

PROXY BATTLE

The exchanges are part of a spillover from the Gaza war that has drawn in regional and world powers.

Iran-aligned groups including the Houthis have fired rockets and missiles at Israel saying they are doing so in support of Palestinians and the Islamist militant group Hamas that governs Gaza. The United States and its allies back Israel and provide weapons to it.

The war began on Oct. 7 after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage back to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel has since bombed and invaded Gaza as part of what it says is a campaign to eliminate Hamas, killing nearly 39,000 people, according to health officials in the enclave.

The Houthis, who control much of the north of Yemen and other large population centres, have previously claimed targeting Eilat and other attacks directed at Israel, saying they are acting in retaliation for Israel’s war on Gaza.

The group has also attacked Red Sea shipping routes for months.

Hamas’ allies include Iran-backed groups such as the Houthis, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraqi paramilitaries.

The Houthi movement consists primarily of members a minority Shi’ite Muslim group in Yemen and has controlled the country’s capital, Sanaa, for years.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Israeli warplanes today struck targets around the Houthi-held Red Sea port of Yemen’s Hudaydah, retaliating for a drone attack on Tel Aviv by the Iran-backed rebels that killed a man and exposed a vulnerability in Israeli air defences. The rebels claimed that three people had been killed in the strikes, which triggered a raging fire and plumes of black smoke.

Called Operation ‘Outstretched Arm’, these strikes are the furthest from the Israel territory ever conducted by their Air Force, the country said. This is the first attack claimed by Israel in the Arabian peninsula’s poorest country.

“This operation struck targets 1,800 kilometres from our borders,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement. “It clarifies to our enemies that there is no place where the long arm of the State of Israel won’t reach.”

Explaining the strikes, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in a statement said that it struck targets around the Yemen port as it serves as an “entryway of Iranian weapons for the Houthi terrorist regime and as a significant economic source for them.”

“Over the past few months, the Houthis have been operating in order to destabilise the Middle East. The Houthi terror attacks are funded and directed by Iran, harming the maritime freedom in the area, regional ports, the Suez Canal and global trade as a whole,” the IDF added.

The Israeli strikes killed three people and wounded 87, the rebel-run health ministry said in a statement carried by Huthi media. The ministry said earlier that most of the wounded had severe burns.

Footage aired by the rebels’ Al-Masirah television showed casualties being treated in hospital, many of them bandaged and lying on stretchers in packed rooms.  

A man interviewed by the broadcaster said many of the wounded were port employees. “The city is dark, people are on the streets, petrol stations are closed and seeing long queues,” he said.

The Houthis started targeting Israel with drones and missiles shortly after the war between Israeli forces and Hamas in Gaza began in October. None of those attacks are believed to have caused significant damage in Israel until now, with most projectiles being intercepted or failing to reach the country.

Houthi rebels say they’re acting in solidarity with Palestinians and will continue the attacks until there’s a ceasefire in Gaza.

Dubai:

Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Monday said they targeted two tankers in the Red Sea with missiles and drones after a British security agency reported several attacks in the troubled waterway.

In a statement on social media platform X, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree identified the two ships as BENTLEY I, a Panama-flagged oil tanker, and the CHIOS LION, a Liberia-flagged crude oil tanker.

The BENTLEY I was attacked with “drone boats, unmanned aerial vehicles, and ballistic missiles”, while the CHIOS LION was targeted with uncrewed surface vessels, Saree said.

They were targeted because their owners had used Israeli ports, according to the rebel spokesperson.

Earlier on Monday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported two separate incidents in the Red Sea.

A ship sailing southwest of the port city of Hodeidah came under attack from three small vessels, two of which had three people each on board, UKMTO said.

The third skiff was unmanned, according to the agency, which is run by Britain’s Royal Navy.

The “unmanned small craft collided with the vessel twice and the two manned small craft fired at the vessel”, UKMTO said.

“After 15 minutes, the small craft aborted the attack. The vessel and crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call.”

The same ship later reported four missiles exploding in “close proximity”, UKMTO said, adding that the strikes did not cause any injuries or damage.

British maritime security firm Ambrey also reported the attack, saying the merchant vessel had a private armed security team on board.

In a separate incident on Monday, an uncrewed surface vessel “impacted” a merchant vessel 97 nautical miles northwest of Hodeidah, UKMTO said.

The attack caused “some damage and light smoke”, it said, adding that “the vessel and crew are reported safe and proceeding to next port of call”.

Houthi drone and missile strikes have taken place despite the deployment of Western naval forces to protect ships in the Red Sea, a vital waterway for global trade.

Since January, the United States and Britain have carried out repeated retaliatory strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

On Sunday, the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces destroyed several Houthi drones.

“These actions were taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure,” it said in a post on social media platform X.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Sanaa, Yemen:

The US-British coalition conducted four airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah province, the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported.

The strikes hit the Red Sea coastal district of Alluhayah, northwest of the province, al-Masirah TV reported on Saturday, without providing further information.

The US-British coalition has not commented on the airstrikes yet, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier on Saturday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said it received a report of an incident 126 nautical miles east of Yemen’s Aden.

“The master of a merchant vessel reports explosions in the vicinity of the vessel. The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call,” the agency said on its account on social media platform X, without providing further details.

UKMTO DAILY SUMMARY 1600UTC 21 JUNE 24 to 1600UTC 22 JUNE 24https://t.co/lBGHDotJOT#MaritimeSecurity#MarSecpic.twitter.com/msQzfZWS2V

— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) June 22, 2024

On Friday, the US-British coalition said its forces had destroyed four drone boats and two drone aircraft launched by the Houthis to the Red Sea.

The Houthi group, which controls much of northern Yemen, began in November last year to launch anti-ship ballistic missiles and drones targeting what they said were Israeli-linked ships transiting the Red Sea, to show solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

In response, the US-British naval coalition stationed in the region has since January conducted air raids and missile strikes against Houthi targets to deter the group, prompting an expansion of Houthi attacks to include US and British commercial vessels and naval ships.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Dubai:

All ships heading to Israeli ports will be targeted by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis and not just in the Red Sea region, the group’s leaded Abdulmalik al-Houthi said in a televised speech on Thursday.

The group has threatened to extend their attacks on ships heading to Israeli ports to the Mediterranean Sea, in what they say is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

Al-Houthi urged China, Russia, Asian and European countries to not transport goods to Israeli ports.

Houthis have previously said their main targets are Israel, and its allies the United States and Britain.

“Everyone must stop transporting to the occupied Palestinian ports… It is in the interest of all companies to stop transporting to the Israeli enemy towards the Mediterranean Sea or in any direction,” al-Houthi said.

Houthi attacks have raised the cost of shipping and insurance by disrupting a key trade route between Asia and Europe, forcing shipping firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Dubai:

The leader of Yemen’s Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said on Thursday the group would target ships of any company related to supplying or transporting goods to Israel regardless of their destination.

He said this was a fourth stage of escalation in retaliation to “the Israeli aggression on Rafah” in the southern Gaza Strip.

“From now on, we are also thinking about the fifth stage and the sixth stage, and we have very important, sensitive and influential choices on the enemies,” he added.

Months of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa, and stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spread to destabilise the wider Middle East.

The United States and Britain have carried out strikes against Houthi targets in response to the attacks on shipping.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)