Netanyahu want to start another war, but the cost of this one won’t land where he thinks it will. It'll land much closer to home... Right, so Israel is now talking about striking Yemen, and the justification being offered is as ever security and self-defence, all despite the fact that Ansarallah, the Houthis, aren’t actually striking Israel at the moment due to the Gaza ceasefire. The launches toward Eilat have paused, as has the blockade in the Red Sea and the strikes on Ben Gurion airport and the like. The movement has said publicly that their operations are tied to the war on Gaza and will stop when the war stops, hence why they have downed tools whilst the ceasefire, Israeli violations of it aside, still holds. If Israel hits Yemen now, therefore it won’t be answering anything. It will be starting something. And the Houthis have already stated how they will respond. If Netanyahu wants some he can have some. They will answer directly. That is their recorded position. That is what they have always done in the past. So the issue here isn’t security or self defence. It’s a government under pressure, looking for a move that can be framed as decisive, desperate for yet another war front. But opening a new front doesn’t make the existing ones disappear, nor does it save Netanyahu from his ongoing corruption trial and coalition divisions. It stacks the consequences. It raises the cost. It kicks his problems down the road for a little longer. It shows where the strain already is. Right, so Israel is talking about striking Yemen. Calling it self-defence. But the Houthis aren’t striking Israel right now. Their position has been stated in public: their operations are tied to the genocide on Gaza and will stop when the genocide stops, paise as ceasefires hold as allegedly is the case right now, though who has ceased and who is still firing is another matter of course. As far as Ansarallah are concerned, the Houthis, they announced a pause in their Red Sea actions, conditional on Israel not escalating and bringing down the ceasefire once again. Their spokespeople made the position clear: if Israel escalates, they resume, and if Israel attacks Yemen directly, they will respond. If Israel want to have a go, the Houthis are saying you know where we are. But if Israel strikes Yemen now, it is not answering anything. It is starting something. And the consequences of that start are not unknown. They are recorded. There is a track record. They have happened before. Not just to Israel either, but to others who already tried to break this movement. And they failed. Not because they didn’t try hard enough. But because the Houthis have beaten everybody who has tried before.