A Turkish lawmaker who declared that Israel “will suffer the wrath of Allah” went into cardiac arrest and collapsed on the floor of Parliament Tuesday — mere moments after delivering his harsh critique of his country’s response to the Israel-Hamas war.

Startling footage shows Hasan Bitmez, 53, standing behind the podium before suddenly falling to the ground while addressing the Grand Assembly of the Turkish National Assembly.

“You will not escape the wrath of Allah,” Bitmez said moments before he collapsed and seemingly hit his head on the marble floor of the General Assembly Hall, sending droves of concerned onlookers running to his side.

Bitmez’s heart reportedly stopped in the Parliament but was later restarted, YNet News reported.

Bitmez, who serves as deputy head of Turkey’s Felicity Party, is also diabetic. He received two stents in arteries in his heart after an angiography at a local hospital, YNet reported, citing BBC in Turkish.

He is believed to be in critical condition.

Before his collapse, Bitmez fired off against the Turkish government for having “endless love for Israel,” and said the government “contributed to every bomb dropped by Israel.”

He also accused Israel of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, according to the outlet.

Lawmakers from the Justice and Development Party, which is led by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, punched back, blaming Bitmez’s condition on “God’s wrath,” according to minutes from the session.

While Turkey condemned Israeli citizen deaths caused by Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 incursion, days after the horrifying attack Erdogan referred to Hamas as “freedom fighters.”

Keep reading.

AUTHOR

Iran, Yemen | Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1731

Introduction

Yemen’s Ansar Allah Houthi Movement – a delisted foreign terrorist organization (FTO) – has, since October 7, launched six rounds of aerial projectiles at Israel,[1] downed a U.S. drone in Yemen,[2] captured a shipping vessel in the Red Sea,[3] and, most recently, fired ballistic missiles and drones in the vicinity of a U.S. Navy vessel.[4]

Senior Houthi officials have reiterated the movement’s intent to continue targeting U.S. and Israeli interests, despite the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, and in the face of a possible U.S. redesignation of the movement as an FTO.

“In the event [a U.S. redesignation] causes harm to the interests of our people,” Houthi deputy foreign minister Hussein Al-‘Izzi warned on X on November 25, “Then we will consider it a declaration of war and America will discover the disaster of engaging in escalation with Yemen, the graveyard of empires and the first country of attrition in history.”

The threat posed by the Houthis to conflict resolution to Gaza is thus clear and immediate. Yet, Houthi attacks in support of Hamas also threaten to derail U.S.-supported peace initiatives in the region, including the movement’s own longstanding peace process with Saudi Arabia. The attacks may also escalate conflict on a regional level.

In view of this significant Houthi threat to regional peace and stability, the following report provides a primer on the Ansar Allah Houthi Movement, including the group’s historical background, profiles of several of its key leaders, and its primary media and social media operations.

Ideology And Ties To Iran

The Ansar Allah Movement is a Zaydi Shi’ite militant organization in Yemen. Zaydi Shi’ism[5] – which differs from Twelver Shi’ism, the state religion of Iran – has a millennium-long history in Yemen’s northern highlands, but its adherents were disempowered in the country in the latter half of the 20th century.

In this context, the Houthi movement’s eponymous founder, Hussein Badr Al-Din Al-Houthi, emerged as a charismatic voice for the marginalized Zaydi Shi’ites in Yemen during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In his speeches, which now comprise the core texts of Houthi ideology, Al-Houthi railed against the Yemeni Government for its relations, at that time, with the U.S, especially following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

He also staged anti-American and anti-Israeli protests, with his movement at the time adopting its sarkha, or slogan: “God is great, death to the U.S., death to Israel, curse the Jews, and Victory for Islam.”

Al-Houthi’s outspoken criticism of Yemeni-U.S. relations brought him into open conflict with the Yemeni government. The government killed him and dozens of his followers in 2004. Thereafter, his followers launched a rebellion, known as the Sa’ada Wars, which lasted until 2010.

Houthis And Yemen’s Politics

Following the ouster of longstanding Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2012, the Houthis took part in the country’s national dialogue process to determine a post-Saleh political future. However, in 2015, the Houthis allied with Saleh, and jointly took the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, by force.

The takeover of Sana’a by Houthi-Saleh forces brought international condemnation, and a Saudi-led intervention to restore the ousted government of the Republic of Yemen. The Saudi intervention included air, land, and sea blockade of the country, as well as a bombing campaign. In 2017, Saleh announced he would severe relations with the Houthis. Days later, he was assassinated by Houthi fighters.

Since Saleh’s assassination, the Houthis have cemented their control over governance in Yemen and launched several military offensives aimed at capturing territory held by the internationally recognized Republic of Yemen Government. In April 2022, the United Nations brokered a ceasefire agreement between Yemen’s warring parties, which has largely held. Currently, the Houthis are engaged in negotiations with Saudi officials over a permanent ceasefire, which would acknowledge Houthi control of most, but not all, of Yemen.

Leadership

Below are several of the most prominent political and military leaders of the Houthi Movement.

Abd Al-Malik Al-Houthi: The Banner Of Guidance

Born in 1979, Abd Al-Malik Badr Al-Din Al-Houthi is the current leader of the group. He assumed the position in September 10, 2004, succeeding his brother – Hussein Badr Al-Din Al-Houthi, who was killed by the Yemeni army during a raid in Marran province.

Houthi members refer to Al-Houthi as Alam Al-Hoda, or the banner of guidance, and endow him with both spiritual as well as temporal authority over the movement.

He also delivers frequent public addresses, in which he rails against the perceived subordination of Muslims by the “Global Jewish Zionist lobby,” the U.S., and the West. For example, on September 27, 2023, Al-Houthi stated:

“The global Jewish-Zionist lobby in the world, and its arms America, Israel, some European regimes, and their allies, continues to head towards containing Muslims and infiltrating them in every way and form, culturally and intellectually, to the point of interfering in their curricula, as happens in many Arab and Islamic countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has opened the way to even deleting Quranic verses from the curricula ‘which the Jews resent,’ and amending some concepts and changing others.”[6]

Earlier, in July 2023 televised remarks about Quran burnings in Sweden, Al-Houthi blamed the “Jewish lobby” for orchestrating the events. “What the Jewish lobby is doing in Western countries in terms of burning and tearing up the Quran is the height of unbelief and an act of aggression against Islam and Muslims,” he said. He advised Western countries to “liberate themselves from the slavery of the Jews and return to the divine message” before the Jewish lobby “pushes them to the abyss, where they will reap Allah’s wrath and torment.”[7]

Al-Houthi has also threatened the United States in televised addresses. Three days after the Hamas attack on Israel, Al-Houthi warned the U.S. against direct military intervention on behalf of Israel. In an address aired on Al-Manar TV, he asserted that the Houthis are “completely coordinated with our brothers in the Jihad and resistance front.” The Houthi leader also added that they were ready to send hundreds of thousands of mujahideen to Palestine, despite the “geographical” problem they face. He threatened that if the U.S. raises its support level to Israel to begin direct military intervention, the Houthis will carry out military strikes against American targets, using rockets, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as well as other military options.[8]

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EDITORS NOTE: This MEMRI column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

For far too long, Zionism has been stuck in a defensive mode.

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

– Bob Dylan

Watching the protests in American and Canadian and European cities where predominantly young people call for a genocide of the Jews in Israel – “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free” – one is struck by some important facts.

First, a lot of the protests are in universities and while Antifa and other anti-liberal groups participate, one can assume that the protesters have a high representation among Muslims and/or university students. Looking at the female protestors, anywhere from 50% to 75% are wearing hijabs.

Second, university professors, mainly in Middle Eastern studies and gender and diversity studies, are indoctrinating their students to hate Israel and Jews everywhere.

Third, while many may be in a country on student or other temporary visas, looking at the population figures for Muslims in the West, they are a growing presence and a growing influence. Surely if we allow people with vile opinions into the country, we must be prepared to live with the consequences once they assume elected office.

Third, this growing influence can be seen in American Muslim areas like Dearborn, Michigan and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Fourth, although not all the residents there are radical Islamists, we see that they are electing university trained Islamists, such as Ilhan Omar in Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib in Dearborn.

Fifth, these elected representatives organize themselves into radical caucuses allying with left-wing Black radicals and spend a lot of time trying to pressure their governments to take anti-Israel actions.

Sixth, we see in the case of American Secretary of State Blinken, who is apparently Jewish, that efforts are made to pressure Israel to lose the war against Hamas by allowing some Palestinian Arab group, be it the corrupt and hateful Palestinian Authority or others, to participate in the governance of Gaza after the war. Anyone who understands the facts about the history of Palestinian Arab terrorism and rejectionism of peace proposals should understand that America and other western countries have become financial backers of Palestinian Arab terrorism and leaders in the international efforts to isolate and endanger Israel.

And so, in this context, we who support Israel must begin to look at a paradigm shift. According to Merriam-Webster is “an important change that happens when the usual way of thinking about or doing something is replaced by a new and different way.”

We need a new way of looking at those who support Islamist terrorism whether it is in the UN, in the universities, in the media, or from elected officials who are Islamists – and a new way of dealing with them.

For far too long, Zionism has been stuck in a defensive mode, whether it is trying to deal with an evil United Nations, UNRWA and UNHCR, or international NGOs, including those funded and controlled by anti-Semites such as George Soros and including BDS boycotters and advocates for diversity and inclusion – which promises inclusion for everyone except the Jews of Israel and their supporters.

Israel has become a powerful country in terms of its military, its high tech sector and its finances, but what good is power if you don’t use it? I am thinking here of using power to shift the paradigm. Specifically the paradigm that Muslims are growing all around the world and have through immigration and demographics grown so much in terms of power in the West that there is nothing we can do, except submit. I discuss this sad submission in my book The Ideological Path to Submission … and what we can do about it. We must address the issue head on – we shall never submit to Sharia Law, jihad and a world-wide Caliphate just as we shall never submit to Hamas, no matter what naive talks emanate from the talking heads in the media.

I have written a lot about Germany and the gradual evolution of its Israel policy from that of “special relationship” to that of a typical European antipathy. See my essays in israel National News: “Germany’s Moral Choice”, January 20, 2020, “Michelle Goldberg and Angela Merkel seek moral absolution in the wrong place”, October 31, 2021 and “A two-state solution for Germany and other migrant-filled European countries”, November 17, 2023.

The demographic situation in Germany, France, Sweden, Belgium etc., and the rise of European leaders on the right, including Orban in Hungary and Gert Wilders in the Netherlands has perhaps opened the floodgates, where the alliance between leftists and Islamists is seen to be bad for society, and people are unafraid to say so and risk the opprobrium from the politically correct.

Here is a speech given by German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck on Nov. 2.

“Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel took place almost four weeks ago now. A lot has happened since then. Not only politically, but especially for the people. So many people’s lives are now consumed by fear and suffering. Public debate since the attack has been heated, sometimes muddled.

“Too much seems to me to have been mixed up too quickly. The phrase, ‘Israel’s security is part of Germany’s raison d’état’ has never been an empty phrase, and it must not become one. It means that Israel’s security is essential for us as a country. This special relationship with Israel stems from our historical responsibility.

“It was the generation of my grandparents that wanted to exterminate Jewish life in Germany and Europe. After the Holocaust, the founding of Israel was the promise of protection to the Jews — and Germany is compelled to help ensure that this promise can be fulfilled. This is a historical foundation of our republic.

“Our historical responsibility also means that Jews must be able to live freely and safely in Germany.”

This statement shows to me that classical antisemitism rising in places where Islamists are taking power means the beginning of a realistic assessment of liberalism and whether individual human rights can coexist with radical Islam.

Germany, despite the passage of time is still known for Nazism just as the Arabs should be known for their terrorist groups. Hamas, while it has awakened the protesting anti-Semites, has also awakened Good people everywhere to advocate for Good over Evil. It should also awaken the Arab countries who were attracted to the Abraham Accord and who fear Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Toby Axelrod reports in JTA: “Recognizing Israel’s right to exist is now mandatory for those who want to become German citizens in the former East German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

“Applicants living in the state will have to confirm in writing ‘that they recognize Israel’s right to exist and condemn any efforts directed against the existence of the State of Israel.”

The paradigm shift must be that the advantages of citizenship in the freedom loving western nations must be reserved for those who do not hate our freedoms and wish to replace them with Sharia law and jihad. America under Biden not only has an open border policy but also does not properly vet regular immigrants. The shift in assumptions and policies must take into account that the world is a nasty place and evil must be constantly fought, and that multiculturalism must be adjusted to recognize that not all cultures are equal.

On the bright side, I believe some young people are ready for a paradigm shift away from the reflexive UN anti-Israel resolutions and the totalitarian leftist-Islamist alliance. For example, the youth wing of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), called the Jusos, in late November, 2019, condemned its leadership’s anti-Israel voting record at the UN. This organization of 14 to 35 year-olds has over 70,000 members. who adopted a resolution that the “disproportionate condemnation of Israel, the only democratic state in the Middle East” is a problem affecting UN bodies “that is carried on not only by states of the Middle East, but also European states, who pass, or abstain from, anti-Israel resolutions”. They urged the leadership to “dissociate from the initiatives and alliances of antisemitic member states in the bodies and specialized agencies of the United Nations.

Donald Trump was a great U.S. President in foreign matters including Israel and specifically his Abraham Accord. Joseph Biden, perhaps just a tool of his far left and anti-Israel advisors has been one of the worst presidents, specifically for empowering and enriching Iran, the country that boasts of its intentions to use nuclear weapons against Israel.

A paradigm shift must take account of the damage wrought by Biden and how Israel will be able to live safely in a world full of appeasers and anti-Semites. Although he is helping Israel with arms, Biden wants a shrunken weakened Israel and a strong Iran.

Every Jew must see himself or herself as a Maccabee. From the Maccabees to the IDF, we fight, but on Hanukkah we don’t celebrate a military victory as much as a religious victory. Our Maccabees throughout history will sacrifice on our behalf, and our duty is to properly analyze the shifting paradigms so that we can win the war of ideologies.

©2023. Howard Rotberg. All rights reserved.

Please read TOLERism: The Ideology Revealed, and The Ideological Path to Submission… and what we can do about it.