The terrorist organization has control of northern Yemen but like their Iranian patrons, their scopes are focused on the Jewish state.

Despite these threats, the Biden administration is funneling funds to the Houthis while admitting that humanitarian funding can end up being usurped for terrorism.

Houthis fundraising for Palestinian missiles

Al-Masirah TV, a Yemeni TV channel headquartered in Beirut which was founded and is owned by the Ansarullah-Houthi movement, aired a video last Tuesday titled: “From Yemen… Fire Your Rocket Towards Tel Aviv.” The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported on the video, describing it as an animated video showing money entering a collection box, which is connected by electric wires to a rocket launch-pad. A Qassam rocket is launched, overpassing Yemeni and Palestinian flags, and hits an iron-made dome marked with an Israeli flag. The dome is completely destroyed.

MEMRI described the video as a fundraising campaign to support “Palestine.”

 A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Houthis in Yemen since 2015 to restore the internationally recognized Yemeni government. The Houthis are backed by Iran which supplies them with missile and drone technology they have used to devastating effect against civilian targets inside Saudi Arabia.

Biden Administration funding Houthis

The Houthis were classified as a terrorist group by the US State Department but this designation was revoked by the Biden administration one month after entering office. At teh same time, the Biden administration defunded the Saudi campaign against the Houthis.The decision was justified as opening up humanitarian funding for Yemen which is suffering from a food crisis. 

The Houthis routinely target civilians and have kidnapped Americans.

In March, the Biden administration restored $73 million in US aid to Houthi-controlled northern Yemen that the Trump administration suspended. It was unclear what procedures are in place that would ensure that the funds are not usurped for terrorism. 

The Biden administration also restored aid to the Palestinian Authority in seeming contravention of the Taylor Force Act and also authorized hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to Gaza while admitting that the money could end up being used by Hamas to attack Israel.

This is not the first time the Houthis have threatened Israel. In July 2020, Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim, the head of the Houthis’ Intelligence and Reconnaissance Authority, told the September 26 newspaper that the authority has a “bank of vital and important targets” in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The Iranian Tasnim News Agency stated that the Houthis have missiles that may be able to reach as far as Eilat and could also target Israeli ships in the southern Red Sea. The news agency claimed that the Houthis have “nothing to lose by targeting Zionist positions.” This echoes similar threats made in recent years by the Iranian-backed terrorist organization.