Talking Again

In a report from The Jerusalem Post we hear about a conversation between US President Trump and Prime Minister of Israel Netanyahu where it sounds like they are in agreement on a whole host of issues:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump spoke on the phone on Tuesday, in the first such conversation since Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, DC, two weeks ago.

The topics covered were diverse:

According to Trump’s post on his social media network, Truth Social, the conversation covered numerous subjects, including trade and Iran.

Trump posted on Truth Social that the talk was more confirmation than anything else:

“The call went very well,” he wrote, adding, “we are on the same side of every issue,” without elaborating further. Unlike their first meeting in February, the meeting two weeks ago was reportedly less successful for Israel.

But they may not agree on Trump’s tariff policy:

While Trump continued to express full support for Israel’s policy in the war against Hamas in Gaza and a stern warning to Iran that it would be at risk without an agreement, he did not lift the 17% tariffs on Israel.

And as we discussed a few days ago, Trump got in the way of planned attacks on the Iranian nuclear program:

A recent report by The New York Times last week also claimed that Trump blocked a planned Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites in favor of negotiating a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program.

The president reportedly told Israel of his decision earlier in April, according to the report, prompting Netanyahu’s Washington visit.

Trump told Netanyahu that the US wouldn’t help if Israel did attack which would have probably meant that any Iranian response against Israel would leave Netanyahu and the Israel Defense Force to defend for themselves. The two previous missile attacks were rebuffed with the help of the US and other countries. It’s likely that some missiles would enter into Israeli airspace and hit cities like Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem. If true, then Israel backed off on those plans. But I don’t think that Israel will wait on Trump if they see Iran actually gets nuclear weapons.

Houthis Hammered By US

We see in an article from The Epoch Times that while everyone is looking at the nuclear talks between Iran and the US and more hostage talks with Hamas and Israel the Houthi rebels in Yemen are taking a real beating:

At least 12 people have been killed and 30 more have been wounded following a U.S. strike on the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital city of Sanaa, according to local health officials.

In an April 21 statement, Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Health Ministry reported that U.S. aircraft struck the Farwa neighborhood market in Sanaa overnight on April 20 and April 21.

The casualty assessment is preliminary and cannot be independently verified.

Details are not fully known:

The Epoch Times reached out to the U.S. Central Command for further details about the overnight strikes in Sanaa, including its own post-strike damage assessment. The U.S. military component declined to provide any new details on the Sanaa strike.

What we do know is that the US is not letting up:

U.S. aircraft have been consistently hitting targets across Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen for more than a month.

Unlike the previous administration, the Trump team is not waiting until the Houthis strike again:

The attacks are part of a renewed effort to cripple the group’s military capabilities and dissuade them from continuing drone and missile attacks on Israel and international shipping through the region.

The Houthis, which the U.S. State Department recently re-listed as a foreign terrorist organization, began launching missiles and attack drones in fall 2023 following the outbreak of fighting in the Gaza Strip.

In Solidarity

From the start the Houthis started attacking both Israel and causing havoc in the shipping lanes of the Red Sea until Hamas is allowed to survive:

The Houthis have claimed that their attacks are in solidarity with the Palestinian people and have vowed to continue their efforts as long as Israeli forces continue to fight in Gaza.

Fighting began in Gaza in response to the Hamas terrorist group’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during which it killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage.

Houthi attacks continued sporadically throughout late 2023 and all of 2024.

Previously, the US would stop attacks and issue warnings:

During that time, U.S. forces helped intercept attacks targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea. By January 2024, U.S. forces began striking Houthi targets directly.

The Houthis would only back off when Hamas wasn’t being attacked during ceasefires but that ended when the latest ceases fire fell apart:

After Israel and Hamas entered into a temporary cease-fire in Gaza, the Houthis halted their drone and missile attacks, and U.S. forces held off responsive strikes.

By mid-March, the Gaza cease-fire began to falter, and the Houthis threatened to resume their attacks.

Trump didn’t wait long before he unleashed the US military on the rebels, attacks that continue to this day:

Preempting the Yemeni rebel faction, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered U.S. forces to resume attacks on Houthi targets on March 15.

Yemen’s state-run Saba News Agency has reported additional overnight U.S. strikes targeting the Houthi-controlled Amran, Hodeida, Marib, and Saada regions.

According to US Secretary of the Defense Pete Hegseth they won’t stop until the Houthis stop attacking ships. Yes, there’s a new sheriff in town and these terrorists to the south of Israel know that all too well.