The Voice of Ummah: On the same day that Pakistan Ulema Council chairman Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi stood at a Lahore pulpit branding Yemen’s Ansarullah a “terrorist militia,” US President Donald Trump was telling reporters at the White House that “Israel has been very helpful to Saudi Arabia.” It was not a Yemeni spokesman who placed Israel on Saudi Arabia’s side in the war on Yemen. It was the US president himself.
During his Friday sermon on October 16 at the Bahria Town Jamia Mosque in Lahore, according to an Arabic summary posted on his official X account, Ashrafi said: “We know you, and those who support you, and what you want… and we will not allow you that.” The sermon was part of a “Day of Condemnation” called by the Pakistan Ulema Council and marked the same day, with the same message, from pulpits in Pakistan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In his posts on Yemen, Tahir Ashrafi repeated the charge that Ansarullah targets Makkah and Madinah.
The Makkah and Madinah charge: what Sanaa says
Yemen’s Foreign Ministry has called the accusation a “great slander” and says it is ready to refute it before any neutral party. When Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree warned airlines that Saudi airspace was unsafe, he explicitly excluded the airspace of Makkah and Madinah. Saree says Yemen’s operations are defensive and will continue until the Saudi aggression and blockade end. Neither fact was heard from a pulpit that invoked the sanctity of the Two Holy Mosques.
Read More: Trump Says Israel Helping Saudi Arabia Against Yemen, Normalization Back on Table
What the reports say: Israeli and US support for Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen
- Trump, October 16: “Israel has been very helpful to Saudi Arabia,” he told reporters at the White House when asked about Israeli help against Ansarullah (Middle East Eye).
- Ynet, October 16: “Saudi Arabia has indeed been receiving military assistance from Israel,” focused on “intelligence concerning potential targets”; “the Americans have asked the Israel Defense Forces to help the Saudis” (Ynet).
- Israel Hayom, September 16: Regional officials confirmed Saudi-Israeli contacts through US Central Command (CENTCOM) on intelligence against Ansarullah; an Israeli official said the help “in the intelligence and early warning aspect” is “being realized through CENTCOM” (Israel Hayom).
- Kan, October 17: Saudi Arabia asked Washington for help, Washington passed the request to Israel, and Israel began providing intelligence (via Iran International).
- CNN, September 10: More than 100 US military advisers in Saudi Arabia are providing intelligence and targeting support for the campaign against Ansarullah (CNN).
- US State Department, September 17: Approved a possible sale of 48 F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia worth an estimated $24.3 billion (State Department).
Israel, the US and the Saudi war
According to Middle East Eye, when Trump was asked whether Riyadh should accept Israel’s offer of help against Ansarullah, he replied: “Yeah, I do, sure.” Anadolu, citing Haaretz, reported that Netanyahu had sought approval through US mediation to join the military campaign in Yemen, which Mohammed bin Salman declined over fears of public backlash, while the Israeli site Ynet claims Israel is providing intelligence assistance to Saudi Arabia through US Central Command. On September 17, the US State Department approved a possible $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia, and Saree says US-made F-15s and European Typhoons are being used to bomb Yemen. As of Saturday afternoon, Ashrafi’s account carried not a word on Trump’s remarks.
Yemen’s martyrs the pulpit did not mention
The Health Ministry in Sanaa says Saudi attacks martyred 114 Yemenis and injured 305 between September 3 and October 15, with women and children making up the largest share. According to Saba, Saudi cluster bombs martyred three children and injured 17 people, including a pregnant woman, in Dhamar. Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 74,000 Palestinians have been martyred since October 2023.
Ashrafi calls Israel an “enemy of the Ummah,” yet in the same breath places Ansarullah alongside it. The questions remain: if Israel is the enemy, why the silence on its “help” to Saudi Arabia? When will there be a day of condemnation for the martyred children of Dhamar? And is the pulpit’s task to promote a government’s narrative, or to stand with the oppressed?
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