As if we needed any more evidence that President Joe Biden’s foreign policy has destabilized the Middle East, emboldened American adversaries, and put U.S. forces and our allies in harm’s way, it looks like another terrorist group is close to entering the unprecedented assault on Israel’s right to exist: The Houthis.
On Thursday, The Daily Wire reported that the USS Carney intercepted several missiles heading in the direction of Israel over the Red Sea. The Pentagon confirmed that the Houthis fired the projectiles from Yemen, and vowed to stand ready to prevent any hostile missile strikes in the region.
BREAKING: Brigadier Gen. Patrick Ryder confirms the shoot down of 3 missiles launched by Houthi terrorists by the USS Carney. pic.twitter.com/dNgDi1mF1a
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) October 19, 2023
Now, many are worried that the projectiles were a sign that the Houthis will directly join Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Yet for anybody who has been paying attention, an event like this was entirely predictable. Without going into all the details of Yemen’s war that began in 2014, Biden’s decisions as commander-in-chief should be scrutinized.
First, the Biden administration removed the Houthis’ terrorist designation less than one month into its term. The Biden administration believed that the label, placed on the Shi’ite group by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the waning days of the Trump administration, hampered the ability to negotiate peace in war-torn Yemen.
At the time, critics warned that removing the label before the Houthis made any concessions would fail to alleviate tensions in the country. In fact, it would only make them — and their primary sponsor, the Iranian government — harder to defeat.
The Biden administration thought appeasement was the best path forward. Most observers would recognize that’s how the current president operates in most facets of world affairs. (See China, Venezuela, and Iran for examples).
Then, in March of 2021, Biden’s team announced it would restore “humanitarian aid” to certain parts of Yemen. The Trump team similarly ended that foreign aid over concerns that the Houthis would siphon it to carry out deadly attacks.
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The Biden administration trusted the terrorists would begin acting in good faith, and that the aid would flow to Yemenis who needed it.
How naive can you get?
In May of 2021, U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking admitted that the Houthis had been less than cooperative with U.S. requests for peace.
“We were disappointed, frankly, that on the last trip to Oman, the Houthis declined to meet with the UN special envoy,” Lenderking said, noting that the decision represented “a trend” with the Houthis.
The Houthis “while showing constructive engagement on a number of occasions with different stakeholders, have then backtracked or, as we say in sports terminology, moved the goalposts to what has been agreed to,” Lenderking noted. “And there won’t be a peace deal without strong Houthi support.”
You would think at least one person in the Biden administration would hear those words and question whether the Houthis viewed them all as a bunch of suckers. That obviously did not happen, because the White House’s policy of effectively rewarding enemies without major concessions has continued unabated. (See the latest shipment of $100 million to Gaza, for the latest example)
Now, it should be noted that the two sides in that conflict were able to secure a truce that lasted for about six months. Since then, the war has been in a bit of a stalemate. One thing that has become abundantly clear is that the Houthis aren’t going anywhere.
It would appear they are now using that staying power — and aid from Iran — to attack Israel or at least test the waters from Yemen.
To top it all off, for some reason, the Biden administration refuses to admit that Iranian-backed terror groups are coordinating their attacks on Israel. Perhaps they think that if they were to, then they’d have to admit their “diplomacy” with Iran has done little to squash its support of terrorism.
“Does the department really see no connection between the Gaza war and what just happened?” a reporter asked Brigadier General Patrick Ryder on Thursday, referencing the Houthi missiles as well several other attacks in the region.
“Look, again, it’s important to separate these attacks from the current situation,” Ryder said.
One thing that can’t be separated from the “current” situation is that the moment we are living in is the direct result of the president’s failed foreign policy. Nobody fears the U.S. with Biden in charge. Instability and weakness, not peace and strength, is the hallmark of the Biden era — to the benefit of those who hate America and her strongest ally Israel.