“The Jews always work in the shadows”: Houthi Health Minister claims Jews control global economy in televised rant about “Jewish hatefulness” 

The Health Minister for the areas of Yemen controlled by the rebel Houthis, the Iranian proxy whose organisation is known as Ansar Allah, embarked on a rant about Jewish people in which, among other statements, he accused Jews of controlling the global economy.

Taha Al-Motawakel’s rant was made on 21st January in Sanaa, the largest city in Yemen, and was televised on Al-Eman TV.

During the four-minute-long excerpt uploaded to YouTube, Mr Al-Motawakel can be seen saying that Jewish people “control the global economy” and invested their money in the United Arab Emirates because they were too “cowardly and miserly” to invest in Tel Aviv, owing to the supposed fact that Jewish people know that Tel Aviv is “in the midst of a conflict with the Arabs and the Muslims.”

He then went on to say that “Jewish billionaires” began to “conspire against the Islamic nation from Abu Dhabi and Dubai,” before going on to call the two cities “Jewish colonies” that are “managed, controlled and supervised by the Jews.”

He continued, stating: “As you know, the Jews always work in the shadows.”

“It is America and Israel who are killing us today,” he added. “The horrific massacres committed today are not designed by human minds. They are the result of Jewish hatefulness.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” is an example of antisemitism.

The video concludes with Mr Al-Motawakel emphatically stating: “We are in a real confrontation with the Jews.”

Also in January, a Houthi scholar stated that the “Jewish regime” of the Saud clan must be “uprooted”. 

In April, explicitly hostile attitudes to Jewish people and Israel, including repeated use of the slogan “curse on the Jews”, were found in educational materials in Yemen.

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