January 18, 2025
By Nasser Kandil
• Those who abandoned Gaza have little left to justify their betrayal except by framing Gaza’s struggle as a defeat. To acknowledge Gaza’s victory would expose their complicity, while promoting the narrative of defeat allows them to claim they avoided a catastrophe like that which befell Gaza and Lebanon. They praise their rulers’ wisdom, asserting that by staying out of the “reckless war unleashed by the Flood”, they spared their countries the risks of a defeat and indulged in their love for life through dancing, singing, and entertainment.
• The challenge for these individuals is that the global and regional public mood – across the Arab and Islamic worlds – celebrates Gaza’s victory. The occupying entity failed to displace Gaza’s people, break its resistance, retrieve its prisoners by force, retain control over any part of Gaza, or keep the war open-ended with the option to resume it at will. This leaves no pretext or excuse for those attempting to credit the occupier with a victory it could not achieve. In the coming days, the repercussions shaking the entity’s unity and stability will further solidify Gaza’s triumph, making it impossible to deny.
• With Gaza’s victory, the undeniable comparison will emerge between the actions of various Arab states, their peoples, and governments, and what Yemen achieved in support of Gaza and Palestine. Over the long months of war, Yemen alone consistently filled its squares with millions chanting for Palestine, week after week. Yemen stood firm, launching missiles and drones deep into the occupying entity’s territory until the moment the ceasefire took effect. For over a year, Yemen defied U.S. and Israeli military capabilities, imposing a blockade in the Red Sea that prevented ships destined for the occupier’s ports from passing. Yemen has rightfully earned the title of a true partner in victory.
• Yemen’s example will be one of the most significant takeaways from this war. How can the wealthy and powerful Arab states claim they were powerless to aid Gaza and Palestine in the face of a brutal war that shook the globe? Yemen, through its actions, demonstrated otherwise. Despite being impoverished, blockaded, and beleaguered, Yemen proved that when there is will, there is a way. It challenged the Arab world, showing that if the weakest among them could achieve so much, then the rest could have done even more, but you were unwilling. Yemen’s experience stands as a testament: where there is determination, every Arab nation could become Yemen.
