A senior Yemeni politician, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, claims that the war in Ukraine is a result of “evil-doing” by the Jews. Al-Houthi is a member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, the terrorist organization which controls much of Yemen and is backed by Iran. He was interviewed on March 14 by the Lebanese Mayadeen TV network that leans pro-Hezbollah and pro-Syrian government.

“I think that what happened to Ukraine is the result of the evil-doing of the Jews,” al-Houthi said when asked if he supports Russia’s position in the war.

“This is proof that when a Jew is a leader of a country, it results in war. If the president of Ukraine was someone else, rather than that Jew, perhaps they would not have ended up in war,” he added, referring to President Zelenskyy.

Al-Houthi was then pressed by the interviewer again about his position on the war in general. He stressed that the Houthis are worried that the war’s purpose is to weaken Russia and establish a U.S.-dominated “unipolar” world order.

“We have reservations about the war,” he said. “Like I said before, this war could aim at exhausting Russian capabilities. It is not in the world’s best interest to have a unipolar world order and that all the power will lie with America. So, we are worried that Russia is being dragged into this war in order to exhaust its power.”

Like other Iranian proxies – Hamas and Hezbollah – Yemen’s Houthis share similar goals, weapons and methods. The slogan of the Houthi movement, as appears on its flag, reads,  “Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse the Jews, Victory to Islam.”

In recent months, Houthi rebels have unleashed multiple attacks against Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Saudi state-run TV reported on Sunday that a barrage of drone and missile strikes targeted a liquified natural gas plant, water desalination plant, an oil facility and power station. In January, the Houthis targeted UAE territory at least three times, including a deadly strike that killed three people.

The U.S. Biden administration reversed the Trump-era designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization just one month after entering the White House. The decision came after President Joe Biden announced an end to American support for the Saudi-led operations in Yemen against the Houthis.

Al-Houthi’s anti-Semitic remarks during the interview were uploaded to social media by the MEMRI Lantos Project, which exposes anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in the Middle East region, as well as in Middle Eastern communities in the West. MEMRI’s objective is to present evidence of these issues to the media so that legal countermeasures can be taken.

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