December 8: Rockets in the Red Sea

In which, Houthi rebels target Red Sea shipping, Israel moves into southern Gaza, Team Biden moves into electoral attack mode, and Venezuela bangs the drums of war.

Rockets in the Red Sea

As fighting spreads in southern Gaza (see below), Iran’s regional proxies appear to be picking up the pace in targeting American assets in the region. Houthi rebels in Yemen have increased the tempo of targeting international shipping and US naval vessels in the Red Sea with rockets, and attempted seizures. In Iraq, the American embassy came under rocket fire as well.

There have been no reported American casualties or damage to US naval vessels yet, so for now the Biden administration has opted to take a passive approach in response to these provocations. Defending US naval ships and shipping in international waters. This suggests that the Biden administration is reading the attacks as attempts to goad America into some kind of military response and is refusing to take the bait. However, read in the broader context of US-Iran relations over the last 40+ years, this should be seen as Iran using the war in Gaza as an excuse to more actively target America in ways it has hitherto shied away from. This would suggest that Iran is not necessarily trying to goad America, but is actively seeking to attack and do as much damage in the gray zone as possible. If that’s the case, then America’s refusing to take the bait may actually end up encouraging further escalation by Iran and its proxies.

The global rift over Israel

As fighting in southern Gaza has intensified, so too has the global divide over the war, and it is a divide that is running through global institutions, regional politics, and national life.

The UN Secretary General has taken the rare step of invoking Article 99 of the UN Charter to bring the Israel-Hamas war to the UN Security Council, calling for a “humanitarian ceasefire.” The Security Council has taken up consideration of the matter, but I would imagine the US will veto the measure if Israel can demonstrate ongoing security concerns. 

However, such a veto may merely deepen divides within Biden’s Democratic Party over the President’s handling of the war (just as Biden’s work was gaining approval), so the proposed resolution certainly is going to put the US in a bit of bind. 

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, African nations are choosing sides in the war as South Africa has vehemently denounced Israel while courting Hamas even as Kenya has promised to send 1,500 laborers to Israel to keep Israeli farms running amidst the IDF’s mass mobilization.

In the US, anti-Israel rhetoric is driving groups and individuals to antisemitic violence and threats of violence in numbers far outpacing the Islamophobic hate crimes the Biden administration has spent much more time on addressing. 

Colleges and universities are under particular scrutiny having been perceived as tacitly allowing, if not condoning, the antisemitism prevalent on college campuses. When given a chance to repudiate the hate on their own campuses in Congressional hearings, several university presidents waffled, leading to major donor losses for one of the schools. As I noted at the outbreak of the war in Gaza, the lack of moral clarity in the US was troubling and would create problems down the road. Well, here we are. It should surprise no one that a lack of moral clarity on college campuses mixed with massive amounts of misinformation is moving the needle on Holocaust denial among young people.

As I consider the global divide over Israel, I’m reminded that Israel is part of the Great Rift Valley system that runs from Lebanon to Mozambique. How tragically fitting that such a divisive country and conflict would be centered on a literal tear in the earth’s crust.