YEMEN - Red Sea Shipping Danger

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said that they would ban Israeli maritime navigation in the Red Sea, adding to challenges for global shipping through the Middle East during the Iran war.

The group said in a statement it had launched an attack on Israel and enacted a total ban on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea, warning of further ‌escalation.

The Red Sea, leading to the Suez canal, is a crucial shipping lane in its own right, and during the Iran war has become the main alternative outlet for millions of barrels per day of Middle East oil sent by pipeline bypassing the Gulf.

The announcement did not amount to a ban on all commercial shipping in the Red Sea and was instead “directed at vessels assessed by the Houthis as Israeli-affiliated,” British maritime risk management group Vanguard said in a note.

Most Gulf energy production has been unable to leave the region since the war began on February 28. However, significant volumes of Saudi crude have been transported by pipeline to its Red Sea export terminal at Yanbu.

-www.reuters.com, 8 June 2026

Commentary: Who are the Houthis? Google search answers: “The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), are a heavily armed political and military organization that controls much of northern and western Yemen. They serve as de facto government in the regions they hold, including the capital city of Sanaa.”

We note the words “challenges for global shipping.” Thus, it’s not a local issue between Yemen’s Houthis and Israel, but affects the world to a certain degree. We also highlight the phrase, “de facto government in the regions they hold.” Religion—in this case, Islam—serves as a fuel for hatred of the Jews.

This reminds me of an event I experienced in 1960, when the migrant ship Castel Felice sailed from Bremerhaven, Germany to Australia over the course of five weeks. We were allowed to disembark at the Port of Aden (Yemen). To our surprise, and with a certain degree of fear, we were greeted with “Heil Hitler!”

During those days, at each of the ports in which we anchored, peddlers were selling their trinkets. They threw ropes at the railings and climbed up to offer their wares. Today, of course, it’s dangerous, even deadly, to visit many of these places.

A similar occurrence happened in 1967: “Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran—the narrow sea passage connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba—to Israeli-flagged ships and vessels carrying strategic cargoes on May 22-23, 1967.” Egypt has learned their lesson, but the Houthis have not yet. It seems they are in the same category as Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the government is incapable of fully controlling that organization.

Regarding Israel, we can have rock-solid assurance of God’s promise: “And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God” (Amos 9:15).

(See Target Israel, Item #2293, $15.99.)