Managers of the port of Eilat, Israel, reportedly announced plans this week to lay off half of their staff in response to the dramatic plunge in shipping traffic at the port in the past four months, the result of a campaign by Yemeni Houthi jihadists to attack commercial ships transiting in and around the Red Sea.
Gideon Golber, the CEO of Eilat Port, told the news outlet the Media Line in an interview published on Tuesday that the port is seeing “zero” ships on a monthly basis, halting all revenues and severely hurting the city’s economy.
This handout photo provided by Yemeni Al-Joumhouria TV, shows the British-registered cargo ship ‘Rubymar’ sinking after it was targeted by Yemen’s Houthi forces in international waters in the Red Sea, on March 7, 2024, in the Red Sea. (Al-Joumhouriah channel via Getty Images)
The Houthi terrorists, who control the Yemeni capital of Sana’a and formally refer to themselves as “Ansar Allah,” declared war on the state of Israel in October in solidarity with Hamas. While Hamas is a Sunni terrorist organization and the Houthis are Shi’ite Muslims, both are believed to receive generous financial support from Iran, the world’s premier state sponsor of terrorism. On October 7, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, engaging in door-to-door attacks on residential communities in which they committed gang rape, torture, infanticide, killed an estimated 1,200 people, abducted over 200 others, and filmed themselves desecrating the corpses of their victims.
In support of these actions, the Houthis launched a campaign in late 2023 to disrupt commercial shipping in and around Yemen. Houthis have used drones and missiles to bomb 73 ships, according to a tally by Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi on March 14. While the terrorists insist they are only targeting ships with ties to Israel and its allies, the United States and United Kingdom, in reality they have attacked multiple ships with no material affiliation with those countries. Some ships the Houthis have targeted, on the contrary, have ties to rogue states allied with them, such as Russia, China, and Iran.
Yemenis lift rifles, flags of Yemen and Palestine, Houthi emblems as they shout slogans during a protest against Israel’s continuing war in the Gaza Strip on March 1, 2024, in Sana’a, Yemen. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
The attacks have dramatically disrupted global shipping, sending insurance rates skyrocketing and forcing ships to reroute away from the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and take the longer and more expensive route around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
The initial objective the Houthis claimed for their campaign was the destruction of the Israeli economy. While they have since admitted their ultimate goal is the destruction of America and the free world generally, the reports from Eilat suggest the Houthis are succeeding in creating ruptures between Israel and global commerce.
“Every month, we had between 12 and 13 ships coming and going, and now we have 0,” Golber, the Eilat Port CEO, told the Media Line. Golber stated that the port was essentially paralyzed, as traffic there has stopped completely.
Eilat is on the southern tip of Israel, the nation’s gateway to the Red Sea. The Media Line report noted that most of its imports prior to the Houthi campaign were cars from Asia.
“In November, we had 50,000 cars stored in the port; now we have only 10,000. The car importers are taking the cars every day but no cars are coming through Eilat anymore,” Golber said.
In this photo provided by the Indian Navy on January 27, 2024, a view of the oil tanker Marlin Luanda on fire after an attack, in the Gulf of Aden. The crew aboard a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker hit by a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels is battling a fire onboard the stricken vessel sparked by the strike. (Indian Navy via AP)
The head of the port expressed frustration at the lack of action on the part of the international community.
“The Houthis closed Bab el-Mandeb four months ago. We need to act, the United States, Britain, France, and Israel … nobody does anything but protect ships from missile attacks,” he lamented.
The administration of leftist President Joe Biden initially responded to the Houthi campaign with the establishment of “Operation Prosperity Guardian,” which the Pentagon claimed was a coalition of nearly two dozen countries, many of them anonymous and offering little clarity as to what they offered to the group, who were going to help escort commercial ships in the region and protect them from Houthi attacks. Operation Prosperity Guardian has done little to deter the attacks, however, as the Houthis have successfully sunk at least one ship, the MV Rubymar, and killed at least three seafarers in commercial ship strikes.
This handout screen grab captured from a video shows Yemen’s Houthi fighters’ takeover of the Galaxy Leader Cargo in the Red Sea coast off Hudaydah, on November 20, 2023, in the Red Sea, Yemen. (Houthi Movement via Getty Images)
Biden has also ordered several airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, which he personally admitted are “not working.”
The Times of Israel reported on Wednesday that the labor leaders in Eilat were organizing a protest that day in response to the news that the port would lay off half its staff, as they had no work for them to do.
Al-Mayadeen, a pro-Hezbollah propaganda outlet, gloated about the situation in a report on Wednesday appearing to show the Eilat port harboring no ships and very little foot traffic in the city.
Eilat’s fate may soon come to several other ports both in the greater Red Sea region and beyond. Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the Houthi leader, announced on March 14 that the terrorists intend to expand their operations into the Indian Ocean and target ships seeking passage around the Cape of Good Hope.
“By the grace of Allah and His assistance, we aim to prevent the passage of ships associated with the Israeli enemy even through the Indian Ocean and from South Africa towards the Cape of Good Hope,” Houthi declared, according to the Iranian state outlet PressTV. “For this important, advanced, and significant step, we have begun to implement our operations related to it through the Indian Ocean and from South Africa towards the Cape of Good Hope.”
In the same remarks, Houthi confirmed that American airstrikes were having no impact on the terrorists’ ability to strike.
“The impact of the American raids and bombings is negligible regarding our missile and drone capabilities and in terms of continuing operations effectively to counter it, and in preventing ships associated with the Israeli enemy,” Houthi said.
