israel

The United States and the United Kingdom recently carried out their eighth round of strikes against targets in Yemen that they claim are being used by Yemen’s Ansar Allah – known in the West as the Houthis – to threaten maritime navigation in the Red Sea.

Since Israel began its deadly incursion into Gaza on October 7 of last year, Ansar Allah has carried out a de facto campaign of targeted sanctions against Israeli economic interests, attacking ships traveling through the Red Sea that it says are tied to Israel. The operation stands out in the region, as neighboring Arab countries have largely stayed out of the fray, if not directly supported Israel’s bloody campaign.

While Ansar Allah has been much discussed (or, more accurately, denounced) in Western media, they have rarely been allowed to talk for themselves. Joining the MintCast today to discuss the blockade and Yemen’s escalating tensions with the United States is Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior political official and spokesperson for Ansar Allah. Bukhaiti has held his position since 2014, when the failed U.S.-backed Saudi campaign to dislodge Ansar Allah from power began.

The human cost of the U.S.-Saudi campaign has been enormous. More than 400,000 people are thought to have been killed, and tens of millions of people lost their access to food, shelter and medical treatment in what the United Nations consistently called “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” A 2021 MintPress investigation found that the United States had supplied Saudi Arabia with at least $28.4 billion worth of weapons and provided diplomatic support for the onslaught.

Ansar Allah officials have repeatedly stated that the goal of their blockade is to pressure Israel into halting its assault on the besieged Gaza Strip, a deadly campaign that has claimed the lives of well over 25,000 people and has left over 63,000 injured, most of them women and children.

Ansar Allah says that their blockade against Israeli interests is working, and indeed, major ocean carriers have suspended Red Sea and Suez Canal transport, instead sailing around Africa, creating significant delays and supply bottlenecks and costing the Israeli economy billions.

When asked by reporters if U.S. strikes on Yemen were effective, President Biden responded by stating: “When you say ‘working,’ are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes.”

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MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey’s new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

In 1999, South African anti-apartheid activist and revolutionary leader Nelson Mandela visited Gaza and said, "We know too well our freedom is not complete without the freedom of the Palestinians."

Since his death in 2013, Mandela’s unifying message of decolonization reverberated across the globe. The anti-colonial, anti-apartheid struggle that he led to end racial segregation and transform South Africa into a democratic nation has been lauded by Palestinians, who have drawn parallels between Israeli occupation and apartheid to the situation that Black South Africans faced.

Joining Mnar Adley for this week’s MintCast interview to discuss the struggle against Apartheid and the continued struggle against colonialism is Nkosi "Mandla" Mandela, who, since 2009, has been a member of the South African parliament for the African National Congress Party. He is also the grandson of Nelson Mandela.

On Wednesday, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor called on the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders responsible for Operation Shield and Arrow, last weekend’s series of airstrikes against the Gaza Strip.

Over 20 Palestinians have been killed so far since Israel began bombing the world’s largest open air prison. Entire families were killed in their sleep, including children, and several neighborhoods flattened to rubble, leaving many communities homeless.

As the world witnesses yet another massacre committed by the apartheid state, South Africa and other African nations are rising in the fight against Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

Earlier this year, the African Union asked its member states to cut scientific, cultural and even some economic ties with Israel until it reverses its colonial practices against Palestine.

Nkosi Mandela has been one of the world’s most outspoken voices against Israeli apartheid and in support of Palestinian liberation. Join us today for this informative discussion.

Support the show

MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey’s new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Born in Jerusalem to parents who had fled Nazi Germany, Israeli journalist Tom Segev is a leading figure among the so-called New Historians, who have challenged many of Israel’s traditional narratives or “founding myths.” His books include, “The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust” (2000); “One Palestine Complete: Jews and Arabs under the British Mandate” (2000); “1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East” (2006); and “Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends” (2010). Segev is presented by the Holocaust Living History Workshop, a joint program of the UC San Diego Library and the Jewish Studies Program. Series: "Library Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 30122]

Born in Jerusalem to parents who had fled Nazi Germany, Israeli journalist Tom Segev is a leading figure among the so-called New Historians, who have challenged many of Israel’s traditional narratives or “founding myths.” His books include, “The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust” (2000); “One Palestine Complete: Jews and Arabs under the British Mandate” (2000); “1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East” (2006); and “Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends” (2010). Segev is presented by the Holocaust Living History Workshop, a joint program of the UC San Diego Library and the Jewish Studies Program. Series: "Library Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 30122]

Born in Jerusalem to parents who had fled Nazi Germany, Israeli journalist Tom Segev is a leading figure among the so-called New Historians, who have challenged many of Israel’s traditional narratives or “founding myths.” His books include, “The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust” (2000); “One Palestine Complete: Jews and Arabs under the British Mandate” (2000); “1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East” (2006); and “Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends” (2010). Segev is presented by the Holocaust Living History Workshop, a joint program of the UC San Diego Library and the Jewish Studies Program. Series: "Library Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 30122]

Born in Jerusalem to parents who had fled Nazi Germany, Israeli journalist Tom Segev is a leading figure among the so-called New Historians, who have challenged many of Israel’s traditional narratives or “founding myths.” His books include, “The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust” (2000); “One Palestine Complete: Jews and Arabs under the British Mandate” (2000); “1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East” (2006); and “Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends” (2010). Segev is presented by the Holocaust Living History Workshop, a joint program of the UC San Diego Library and the Jewish Studies Program. Series: "Library Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 30122]