Yemeni Ansarullah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi has warned that Muslim inaction over Palestine is directly fueling Israeli expansionism.
Al-Houthi made the remarks while delivering a message on Tuesday on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, which will be marked on Wednesday.
He opened his remarks by extending warmest congratulations to Muslims across the globe on the occasion of the blessed Eid al-Adha.
He described the Palestinian cause as a wound cutting across the entire Islamic nation.
The suffering of the Palestinian people, he said, is not a local matter. It concerns every Muslim, from the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque to the lives of ordinary Palestinians enduring “the harshest forms of injustice: killing, starvation, forced displacement, violation of honour, land seizure, kidnapping, torture, and others.”
Al-Houthi was direct about the consequences of Muslim passivity. “Whenever the Islamic nation neglects its responsibilities towards that,” he said, “it opens the door for the Zionist Jewish enemy to expand its aggression against it.”
He pointed to Israel's stated ambitions as proof, citing an overt aggressive movement operating under the banner of the so-called “Greater Israel” which “targets the region with all its peoples.”
The term “Greater Israel” has resurfaced in Israeli political discourse in recent years. In August last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli media he felt a deep connection to “this vision,” referring to Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories as well as parts of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and described it as “a historical and spiritual mission.” The remarks drew strong condemnation from several regional countries.
Al-Houthi drew a clear obligation. Muslims must provide “all kinds of support to the Palestinian people and its fighters, and to Hezbollah in Lebanon, which faces the Israeli aggression on Lebanon with all steadfastness, resilience, and effectiveness.”
He also held up Iran as a model. The Islamic nation, he said, should “learn important lessons from the steadfastness of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Muslim Iranian people in facing the American Israeli aggression and confronting it with high effectiveness.”
That example, he noted, should serve as “an incentive to strengthen Islamic brotherhood and enhance cooperation among the peoples of our nation.”
Islamic brotherhood, he said, is “an obligation from the obligations of Islam and an important factor of strength” in confronting an enemy that targets everyone.