Yemen’s Houthi rebels accuse Israel of standing behind the Saudi-led military campaign launched against them. The charge is not unusual—blaming Israel for the Mideast’s sundry ills is a time- honored regional pastime. For once, though, the allegation has some historical basis: During Yemen’s 1962-1970 civil war, the Jewish state airlifted a steady supply of money and arms to the ruling monarchy. On one point, however, the Houthis’ accusation falls flat: That monarchy actually represented the same Shiite tribes from whom today’s rebels spring.
Meanwhile, Houthis blamed the Israel–United Arab Emirates peace agreement, or the Abraham Accord, which was agreed to by Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on August 13, 2020.
At the time, Yemen was divided—as it was for most of its history—between the absolute monarchy of the Mutawakelite dynasty in the north, and a British protectorate in the south centered on the strategic port of Aden. The Mutawakelites were Zaydis—a sub-minority within the Islamic minority of Shiism who consider Muhammad’s great-great grandson Zayd the rightful heir to the prophet’s mantle. (Zaydis are commonly known as Fivers, because they deem Zayd the fifth and final leader of the faithful, as opposed to the majority of Shiites who recognize a chain of 12.)
In 1962, nationalist army officers led by Gen. Abdullah al-Sallal—and inspired by Gamal Abdel Nasser’s anti-monarchist coup in Egypt a decade prior—staged a coup against Imam (King) Muhammad al-Badr. Britain, fearing unrest in its neighboring colony, backed the royalists, as did the fellow monarchies of Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and a 16-year-old state of Israel.
At the time the Jewish state’s chief antagonist was not, as today, the Shiite theocracy of Iran but its own neighbor—and the Arab world’s largest state— Egypt.
Oren Kessler is deputy director for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, wrote an article in Politco revealed that, British intelligence had for months sought Israeli support for the royalists, and soon found a willing partner. On the night of May 26, 1964, Imam Badr called a strategy session of tribal leaders who were backing the monarchy, including one Sheikh Hassan al-Houthi, the patriarch of the Houthi tribe that today leads the fight against Yemen’s internationally recognized government. Around midnight, the assembled dignitaries heard a plane hum overhead and saw 14 parachutes drop, prompting one elder to marvel, “Look! Even God is helping the imam.” The plane—carrying military materiel, medical supplies and money—was flown by Israeli pilots.
Operation Porcupine, as it became known, included 14 airlifts of Israel’s largest transport plane, the Boeing C-97 “ Stratofreighter,” over two years. Airlifts were complemented by the deployment of Mossad intelligence agents, one of whom was captured by Yemeni rebels , handed over to Egypt and returned home in a prisoner swap after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
