As US President Donald J. Trump was being hosted in Saudi Arabia by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen fired another ballistic missile at Israel.
The missile, which flew over Saudi Arabia on its way to Israel, was fortunately intercepted by the Israel Defense Forces before reaching its intended target.
The Houthis, in fact, fired three ballistic missiles at Israel, right over the Crown Prince's head.
The missile attacks came less than a week after Trump announced that he had reached a separate ceasefire deal with the Houthis to end their attacks on American-flagged vessels in the Red Sea. "They just don't want to fight, and we will honor that," Trump said.
"We will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated. But more importantly, we will take their word. They said they will not be blowing up any ships anymore."
Sadly, anyone who takes the word of a terrorist group is living in a dream world. Just look at Afghanistan. The Taliban could not wait to break their vow to make sure that women's rights would be protected. Women have been erased. They can no longer "work, sing travel, study" or even appear near a window.
Israel took the word of Hamas when the terror group repeatedly indicated its desire to maintain a truce. In the end, however, on October 7, 2023, Israel paid a heavy price for its gullibility. Thousands of Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, murdered 1,200 people, many of whom were attending a music festival, wounded thousands, and kidnapped 251 others, dragging them into the Gaza Strip. Of those, 58 are still being held by Hamas. Only 23 are believed to still be alive.
The Trump-Houthi agreement, notably, did not require the Iranian proxy militia to stop its missile attacks on Israel. The Yemeni group therefore did not hesitate to launch a ballistic missile at Israel during Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia. By using the Houthis to attack Israel, Iran -- hiding behind the skirts of the Houthis rather than attacking Israel itself – could congratulate itself on staying safe from potential retaliation.
The missile attack from Yemen seemed a clear message to the US president that the Houthis, as well as Iran's mullahs, are happy to continue their assaults on Israel.
In the eyes of Iran and the Houthis, Trump's separate peace deal that excluded Israel is a captivating green light to continue their attacks on "The Little Satan", while obligingly halting their assaults on vessels in the Red Sea.
Trump's deal with the Houthis sent everyone in the Middle East the message that the Trump administration has finally thrown Israel under the bus.
A pro-Houthi social media account mocked Saudi Arabia, Trump and Israel in a cartoon that depicted the US president squeezing money out of the Saudis as a Houthi missile is seen soaring over his head on its way to Israel.
An Egyptian social media user, "Emmy Hamdy," commented:
"Trump is milking the Pseudo Arabs of their billions while the true Arabs are defending Palestine – God bless Yemen's Ansar Allah (Houthis) and its mighty people."
A Houthi spokesman announced on May 13:
"The missile force of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a military operation targeting Lod Airport, Israeli name 'Ben Gurion'... using a hypersonic ballistic missile. The missile successfully achieved its target, thanks to Allah, and led millions of occupying Zionists to flee to the shelters and halting airport operations for nearly an hour."
The spokesman threatened that missile attacks on Israel will continue in support of the "oppressed Palestinian people."
Senior Houthi official Nasruddin Amer said:
"Everyone, including international airlines, should realize that the Zionist entity is unsafe and could be targeted at any moment. Our operations will not stop until the [Israeli] aggression on Gaza stops."
Worse, Trump's agreement does not require the Houthis to abandon their jihad (holy war) against either the US or Israel. Notably, the political slogan of the Houthis reads:
"God [Allah] is Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse be upon the Jews, Victory to Islam."
A new Houthi slogan appeared after the US re-designated the militia as a terrorist organization: "America is the Mother of Terrorism."
The Houthis may have agreed to a temporary cessation of attacks on American targets, but they have certainly not abandoned their jihad to murder Israelis and Americans.
Just as Trump's deal with the Houthis was interpreted by Yemen's Houthis as a green light to continue missile attacks on Israel, his administration's direct negotiations with Hamas, as well as his visit to Qatar -- Hamas's major sponsor and funder -- is seen by many Palestinians and Arabs as a victory for the Palestinian terror group. According to Palestinian political analyst Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib:
"Hamas accounts on Twitter and Telegram are exploding in orgies of joy, arrogance, foolish proclamations, and declarations that they're finally being recognized and legitimized by the USA. They're ecstatic that their employer, Qatar, just "purchased" the US presidency with a $400 million 747 jet and a Golf Course, making the unconditional release of an American-Israeli hostage, Edan Alexander, from Gaza's tunnels completely worth it.
"One 'analyst' for the terror group declared that this is the first direct 'political agreement' between the United States and Hamas, while another bragged about how Sinwar's October 7th attack ultimately made it possible for Hamas to force Trump to 'kneel' before the group to retrieve hostages thanks to the billions of its chief backer, Qatar."
Qatar wanted the American-Israeli hostage released as a gesture to Trump on the eve of his visit to the Gulf state. Hamas leaders were not able to say no to Qatar, and immediately complied.
This event shows that Qatar has enough influence over Hamas to instruct it to release all the hostages. Qatar could have used its influence from the beginning to force Hamas to release all of them; but it did not.
Since the start of the war on October 7, 2023, Qatar, which hosts several senior Hamas leaders, has failed to pressure the terror group to release all the hostages, disarm or cede control over the Gaza Strip.
Qatar wants to make sure that its long-standing allies, Iran and Hamas, remain strong and in power after the current war.
Trump and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are being played and appear not even to know it. If they do know it, personal friendships and financial rescues have apparently taken priority over hard-nosed negotiating. Their only priority seems to have been raking in trillions of dollars from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, a Trump golf resort in Saudi Arabia, a $400 million "flying palace" from Qatar, a Trump hotel in Dubai and the promise of a Trump Tower in Damascus.
In addition to the deals with the Houthis and Hamas, Trumps' visit to Qatar and his meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a "reformed" Islamist terrorist affiliated with al-Qaeda, have drawn criticism from several Arab political commentators.
Egyptian political analyst Nervana Mahmoud commented on May 13 about Trump's decision to meet with al-Sharaa and lift US sanctions on Syria:
"Donald Trump may go down in history as the American President who empowered Islamism around the globe, more than any other president in the history of the USA."
She added:
"After 24 years of bloody hostilities, today al-Qaeda has reached a peace deal with the USA."
The next day, she commented on the economic and defense agreements Trump signed with Saudi Arabia and Qatar:
"Post Conversation Nervana Mahmoud @Nervana_1 Americans are ( rightly) happy with the business side of the deals, but they fail to grasp the political price of appeasing rebranded Islamists like Syria de-facto leader."
Trump and his advisors undoubtedly have good intentions, but they appear not to have taken into consideration that engaging Islamist leaders such as al-Sharaa and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and trying to strike deals with Iran and its Hamas and Houthi terror proxies, instead emboldens these terrorists and enemies of the US.
After Trump returns to Washington, he will quickly discover that the Islamists and their sponsors in the Middle East have not changed. Iran, Hamas and the Houthis will continue to call for death to Israel and America. Qatar will continue to provide political and financial support to anti-American Islamists and other Jihadis. As for Syria's jihadist president, the belief that he will transform himself into a moderate pro-Western Arab leader and a democrat is, unfortunately, nothing but a joke.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are different: their leaders have made a strategic choice to distance themselves from Islamist terror groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Hezbollah. In addition to signing peace treaties with Israel, the two countries have worked to strengthen their economic and security ties with Israel and boost normalization with Israelis.
Saudi Arabia, under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also appears to be moving in that direction, though at a much slower pace. MBS will not join the Abraham Accords. Trump's wish that he would sign onto them "in your own time" is a sweet, naïve dream.
The Abraham Accords need more moderate Arabs and Muslims, not jihadists who consider Israel and the US as the No. 1 enemy of Arabs and Muslims.
If Trump were to use military force against Iran's nuclear weapons program, it would not only be a blow to Tehran and its terror proxies, it would enormously empower the moderate Arabs and Muslims who correctly view the mullahs as a threat to their national security and stability.
If Trump wants real peace and prosperity, he must, unfortunately, act against Iran and its terror proxies, and distance himself from jihadists and their sponsors, especially Qatar. Such a move would be the best way to expand the Abraham Accords and encourage other Arabs to seize hold of Trump's great promise.
Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
