The Iran-backed Houthi rebels stationed in Yemen have been the subject of international concern in recent months amid escalating attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.
While U.S. and United Kingdom forces launched an attack against the violent Shiite Muslim sect this week, the Biden administration is receiving some backlash over its decision to reverse the Trump administration’s decision to declare the Houthis as a terrorist organization.
Along with a number of other policies implemented by his predecessor, President Joe Biden struck down the designation as one of his first moves upon entering office.
A White House spokesperson explained the decision in 2021, claiming that former President Donald Trump’s designation resulted in “humanitarian consequences” that would be corrected by Biden’s reversal.
Citing the United Nations and other sources around the world, the official claimed that Trump’s move “would accelerate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”
A number of Democratic officials celebrated Biden’s stance, including U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who declared that Biden’s “designation did not impact the Houthis in any practical way, but it stopped food and other critical aid from being delivered inside Yemen and would have prevented effective political negotiation.”
In the aftermath of a Hamas terrorist attack on Israel in October, however, the Houthis have ramped up their own violence, prompting a renewed look at the Trump administration’s decision to label the group a terrorist organization.
Using the sect’s formal name, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said upon announcing the move: “If Ansarallah did not behave like a terrorist organization, we would not designate it as one.”
The declaration, which cut off any “material support or resources” from the U.S., was almost immediately denounced by globalist entities including the U.N.
“I urge all those with influence to act urgently on these issues to stave off catastrophe, and I also request that everyone avoids taking any action that could make the already dire situation even worse,” warned U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the time.
Of course, the troubling developments of the past several months illustrate the concerns expressed by the Trump administration more than three years ago.
Trump declared the Houthi's a terrorist organization and cut off US Foreign Aid to Yemen.
A month later after Biden was in office, he reversed that and continued to fund terrorists.
Three years later, we are bombing our own creation that we funded.#StopForeignAid pic.twitter.com/tQ4ZhlOeR2
— Justin Theory (@realJustATheory) January 12, 2024
More than a dozen U.S. senators signed a letter in November urging the Biden administration to re-implement the designation he rescinded upon taking office.
“Re-designating the Houthis as [a foreign terrorist organization] would send a powerful message that the United States views this group as a clear threat to our Allies and partners and to regional stability in the Middle East,” they wrote. “Since Hamas’s savage terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 the Houthis have launched three attacks against the Jewish state and promised to carry out more strikes ‘until the Israeli aggression stops.’”
