March 16, 2024

The Houthis are a group of makeshift radicals who have attacked cargo ships in the Red Sea under the pretext of solidarity with the Palestinians. The group, based in Yemen, and most notably backed by Iran, has said it will continue assaulting vessels in the vital waterways of the Red Sea. Their assaults, although haphazard, have accomplished the two primary goals that they are really trying to accomplish that I will share with you in a moment. I say haphazard in that one of their attempted targets was headed with supplies toward Iran, their primary financial backer. The group’s leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, recently showed his real intentions when he expressed that the US, not Israel, would suffer from their “surprises”.

What are The Houthis really after?

Publicity and broad range financial disruption.

On the ship, I receive digital copies of the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The antics of The Houthis have dominated the Associated Press articles for the last two months. Why do these radical groups seek publicity? Because it means additional funding. Other radical subgroups and copycat organizations will donate to the flavor of the day because it justifies their own political persuasions. We all read or heard about the attack on a freighter registered in Belize. Two close friends of mine are the developers of the major resort development on Ambergris Caye (Alaia Belize) I have been to this beautiful Caribbean Island, and I assure you that these peace-loving residents are more concerned with diving in their reef, second largest only to the Great Barrier Reef, than the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Yet, this attack provides the much-desired publicity the Houthis so desperately grave.

The United States are using two-million-dollar missiles to down two-thousand-dollar drones. Talk about financial inequality. Yet, for the greater good of the region this is a fight we cannot back down from. And the Houthis are now accomplishing their second goal of broad range financial disruption.

Gus Antorcha, the president of Holland America Line, visited the Zuiderdam for a number of days while in Tokyo. He reported that Holland America was monitoring the situation in the Red Sea. We recently received this communication: “Based on our close consultation with global security experts and government authorities, and the current security environment and future uncertainties in the region, Holland America has made the decision to bypass the Red Sea. Your voyage will no longer visit India or the Middle East and after our call to Sri Lanka we will reroute the ship around South Africa”.

I am personally disappointed in that two of the charitable organizations that we arranged to support are located in Mumbai (Bombay), India and Ashdod, Israel. I can continue my support from home but will miss the opportunity to have visited in person.

All cruise ships have now determined to reroute travel from the Red Sea regardless of their corporation’s position on the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Goal of broad range financial disruption.

Accomplished.

Thanks for travelling with us…