Dror Eydar

Dror Eydar is the former Israeli ambassador to Italy.

The famine no one talks about

It is one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world, yet it's hardly covered because no Jews are involved.

1.

The Iranian encirclement left us the Houthis in Yemen, who occasionally remind the world of their hatred matched only by their folly. Yemen, however, is a test case in the global battle of perception, as it has become one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Predictably, you have not heard much about it. A 2021 UN report counted more than 377,000 dead since the civil war began in January 2015, and the toll has surely risen.

2.

Roughly half the victims were children who died not from combat but from hunger, disease, pollution, and dehydration. Eighty-five thousand children perished from starvation, 2.2 million suffer severe malnutrition, and more than 5 million Yemenis have been displaced. Half the hospitals were destroyed in bombings—not because they served as terror bases. This is engineered starvation and genocide through siege and sealed crossings, accompanied by the world's deafening silence.

The Houthis, a Shiite sect known as Zaydis (after Imam Zayd bin Ali, killed in 740 for rebelling against the Umayyads), joined Yemen's 2011 coup during the Arab Spring. In early 2014, they seized Sana'a with help from Iran and Hezbollah. That March, Saudi Arabia forged a Sunni coalition with Western backing and launched tens of thousands of airstrikes against the Houthis, devastating homes, schools, and hospitals. The Houthis, in turn, shelled cities beyond their borders, laid countless mines, besieged entire communities, blocked humanitarian aid, and attacked merchant ships. Both sides used siege and starvation tactics that inflicted terrible suffering. Did you hear about it?

3.

In Gaza, by contrast, Israel has transferred about 2 million tons of food since the war began – roughly a ton per person. Hamas, of course, stole much of it and resold it at extortionate prices, creating shortages. But there was never starvation, certainly not as Israeli policy, unlike Yemen. Israel has never deliberately targeted civilians. The Israel Defense Forces is the only army that warns enemy populations before attacks. Because Egypt refuses to admit refugees, Israel relocated residents to safer areas. Despite the density, Israel preserved the vast majority of its lives. Many casualties resulted from Hamas fire or threats that forced civilians to remain.

4.

Returning to Yemen's horrors: where are Al-Jazeera or The New York Times? Where are the Muslim protests? Where is the outrage for the Yemenites starved and bombed? The answer is simple: "No Jews – No News." When Muslims slaughter Muslims, the world shrugs. When Jews kill neo-Nazi Muslim terrorists, the hypocritical world screams "genocide." For the world it is unthinkable that Jews refuse to play the role of victims.
This narrative is prewritten, casting Jews as villains to stoke selective rage. The war in Gaza is hard for Israel's enemies to absorb because it collides with a two-thousand-year-old myth: that Jews are Christ-killers who use children's blood for matzot. It is a recycled blood libel. Disgracefully, parts of Israel's own media helped amplify it.

5.

Gaza is being demolished because it is a fortress of terror built to annihilate Israel and murder Jews. You cannot live under a volcano bound to erupt; you must extinguish the lava at its source. But what did Yemen do? It is being erased systematically, while the world stays silent—because there are no Jews there. The world does not truly care about Palestinians either; they are exploited as a cudgel against the Jewish people and its only state. Recognizing a Palestinian state would be a pathetic requiem for the West.

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