Sayyed al-Houthi: Cutting UNRWA Funds is US Response to ICJ Ruling

By Al Mayadeen English

1 Feb 2024 18:22

The leader of the Ansar Allah movement has spoken on the most recent regional and international developments regarding the ongoing war on Gaza.

The United States and Britain "have gotten themselves in a quandary," as their aggression on Yemen failed to produce the intended results, the leader of the Ansar Allah movement, Sayyed Abul-Malik al-Houthi said during his speech on Thursday.

Speaking on the 16th week of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, Sayyed al-Houthi delved into a number of topics and analyzed ongoing local, regional, and international developments.

'Israel' commits the most heinous crimes in Gaza

As he has done in his previous addresses, the leader of the Ansar Allah movement shed light on the "heinous" crimes committed by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip. In reference to the recent discovery of the bodies of 30 martyrs in a Beit Lahia school, Sayyed al-Houthi considered the crime to be part of the ongoing genocide against Palestinians.

"The enemy arrests Palestinian [civilians] and deliberately humiliates and strips them, in violation of their human dignity, before executing them in cold blood."

He highlighted the fact that these crimes are being committed with the direct backing of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany who have provided the Israeli occupation with the necessary weapons and equipment to carry on its genocide.

On the systematic Israeli actions targeting the health sector in the Gaza Strip, Sayyed al-Houthi emphasized a widespread phenomenon in the Gaza Strip, in which the wounded are being treated without the necessary anesthesia.

"One of the most painful and tragic scenes of the suffering of the wounded is the amputation of limbs without anesthesia."

He also highlighted the fact that the Israeli political and military commands have listed hospitals and medical centers as essential targets of their aggression. He described the action as audaciously blunt and disgraceful. 

"The Israeli enemy does not want those who provide health services to the Palestinian people to remain in hospitals, nor does it want medicines and medical staff. It kills some and arrests others," he said.

Despite unfavorable circumstances, the leader of the Ansar Allah movement underscored the resilience of the Palestinian Resistance, which was marked by a recent rocket attack that targeted the heart of the Israeli regime, in "Tel Aviv".

"The bombing of Tel Aviv is a highly significant operation with great significance amid the comprehensive destruction of the sector and the false achievements presented."

US-lead campaign against UNRWA: A response to ICJ order

Regarding a recent US decision to suspend funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which is the only international body responsible for aiding Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip and other areas in West Asia, Sayyed al-Houthi shed light on the fact that the campaign comes against the backdrop of the recent ICJ order.

"In addition to killing, destruction, devastation, and displacement, the Zionist enemy targets UNRWA, and America fully supports its campaign," the leader said.

However, the leader did point to the fact that UNRWA "provided minimal services to the people of Gaza," attributing its underperformance to "Western and American supervision," which "played a key role in" overseeing the organization's work.

"After the decision of the International Court of Justice, food and medicine are supposed to enter Gaza and contribute to reducing the crimes of genocide."

To the contrary, the US launched a campaign against the largest humanitarian organization present in and outside the Gaza Strip in an attempt to stop "its meager and limited assistance."

"The Palestinian people have not found security in UNRWA schools, which they resorted to under the protection of the United Nations. Targeting refugees in UNRWA schools illustrates the American tyranny and the humanitarian bankruptcy of the West, which rushed to announce the suspension of UNRWA aid," the Yemeni Ansar Allah leader underlined.

The ICJ's injunction was weak

After the listing of a series of genocidal acts and war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation, including a severe blockade on the Gaza Strip, the leader emphasized that concerned parties have "no consideration for human rights and international law when they conflict with American and Israeli interests."

He accused the international community of abandoning the Palestinian people, adding that they have failed "to take serious action to stop Zionist crimes."

"The decision of the International Court of Justice was weak and did not rise to the [required] level of justice."

"The correct and just stance from the [ICJ] is a decision or ruling that stops the aggression and blockade on Gaza and puts an end to the [Israeli] crimes in the West Bank," he added.

The leader attributed the weak performance of international institutions to American influence that subdues their decisions even when cases are treated with "great injustice".

"As a result of American intervention, the Israeli enemy is almost exempt from all decisions, judgments, and positions declared by international institutions," Sayyed al-Houthi stressed.

"It is a great shame for nations that the Israeli enemy is an accepted member of the United Nations."

US, UK ‘got themselves in a quandary’

In his speech, Ansar Allah’s leader touched on the Yemeni Armed Forces’ operations, in support of the Resistance in Gaza and the Palestinian people, against ships heading to the Israeli occupation entity in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab.

In this context, he stressed, "Our role is effective and influential," and "the enemy is in despair."

Sayyed al-Houthi reiterated that the Yemeni forces "are at high readiness to target any ship heading to the occupying entity," stressing that the US and the UK "have gotten themselves in a quandary."

The Yemeni Resistance leader also confirmed that the Yemeni people "proved that the targeting was limited to the ships heading to the occupation entity, while the others were allowed safe and secure navigation," highlighting, in this regard, how "the Americans failed to protect the ships heading to the occupying entity, which they admitted."

In the same context, Sayyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi explained that the Americans "tried to flex their muscles, under false pretenses, but they failed miserably just like their British accomplices, having stood impotently, unable to protect even their own ships."

According to the Yemeni leader, it is about time for the enemy to understand the inability of any ship to head to its ports through Bab al-Mandab as it "should pay the price for its continued aggression."

The Ansar Allah leader, once again, vowed that the military operations of the Yemeni Armed Forces will not stop "as long as the aggression continues, regardless of the American position, which will not affect our country’s effective stand, despite all the technologies it [the US] possesses."

Addressing the Americans, Sayyed Al-Houthi stressed that "instead of waging wars" here and there, US President Joe Biden should occupy himself "with his country’s crises and the problems caused by his policies."

As for the British, he pointed out that "they must deduce a lesson from the ship that went ablaze when we attacked it."

In this context, Ansar Allah’s leader stressed that the US aggression against Yemen "is a push for us to develop our military capabilities even more; capabilities that are manifested by the advanced missiles that we launch," noting that one of the signs of the failure of the goals of this aggression is the fact that Biden's administration resorted to China for intervention.