President Trump’s airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels send a powerful message, far beyond preventing the harassment of U.S. ships and commerce in the Red Sea. Without exaggeration, the president is responding to a serious threat to global stability.
The Houthis and their main sponsor, the Islamic Republic of Iran, aim to reduce civilization to an Islamic caliphate, and would then simply fight among themselves for dominance. Appeasement was never the answer.
Unlike his predecessor’s weak posture, President Trump understands that strength deters aggression. The Houthis, backed by the Mullahs of Iran, have been targeting Red Sea shipping, endangering international commerce and emboldening Tehran’s broader destabilization efforts.
By taking swift military action, Trump is protecting American interests, standing with our most trusted ally in the Middle East, Israel, standing up for free navigation, and restoring deterrence in a region where Biden’s appeasement policies only invited more chaos. This is the leadership the world needs—firm, unapologetic, and effective.
There is also, however, a clear recognition of the larger danger of which the Houthis are a part. In January, Houthi forces fired repeatedly into Israel, supporting the terrorists of Hamas and intending to inflict fear and trauma upon Israeli citizens.
During the recent months of renewed ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, the Houthi attacks stopped entirely. With the end of the ceasefire, coupled with the U.S. strikes on the Houthis that began this past Saturday night, the Houthis resumed firing at Israeli targets. What is the connection between the Houthis and terrorism in Israel? Simply put, everything.
The halt in Houthi hostilities during this period indicates a tactical alliance with Hamas and others. However, this alliance is only one of convenience; without a common target, these groups would immediately fight among themselves, in the model of Syria.
After the last of Syria’s Jews were expelled in the 1990s, its government began a period of oppression that led to a civil war that began in 2011, with atrocities on both sides and Assad’s use of weapons of mass destruction against his own people. Today, the flight of Assad and his government has left the country torn apart by former rebel allies, with massacres of Alawites and Christians merely a prelude to warfare between radical Islamic groups.
The left consistently underestimates the powerful draw of religious devotion. They imagine that with better economics and more education, those radicalized by Imams will lay down their arms to engage in business.
In reality, religion overrides worldly concerns even more than Nazi ideology corrupted German academia. This can be used for good or evil: religious teachings are why Jewish Americans reduce their standard of living for the opportunity to live in the Holy Land, but are also why radical Islamic terrorists commit suicide bombings.
The Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah all find common sponsors in Iran and other countries. At the end of the day, however, they would bring Syria’s disastrous human rights situation to the entire region. Their cooperation, like that of the Syrian rebels, is driven by a common enemy rather than genuine solidarity, and would quickly dissolve if permitted to expand their reach.
President Trump’s airstrikes are thus not merely a reaction to immediate threats; they are part of a broader strategy to restore peace and stability to the region, and ensure that terrorist groups can no longer threaten their neighbors.
The Houthis remain a threat, but the message is clear: America will act decisively to protect peace around the world unlike the former president who was all about appeasing terrorists. The days of appeasement are over!
Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Executive Vice President of the Coalition for Jewish Values. He is on X @ymenken
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