Reuters’ Pro-Houthi Propaganda Video Erases Terror Group’s Foundational Motto

“God Is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse on the Jews, Victory to Islam." The genocidal slogan appearing on the Houthi flag is ubiquitous in the terror organization's propaganda.

The war-mongering and antisemitic threat also appears in countless frames of a Reuters video yesterday which completely whitewashes the "defiant" movement and egregiously omits any mention of the terror group's omnipresent foundational motto ("Yemen's Houthi leader defiant despite US military attacks").

Indeed, Reuters' video would be more at home at a Iranian or Houthi propaganda outfit than a vaunted Western media outlet with a stated commitment to "independence, integrity and freedom of bias." (In addition to appearing on Reuters' YouTube channel, the video also appears on the news agency's site.)

"The leader of Yemen's Houthis has emerged as Iran's most prominent Arab ally and an enduring thorn in Israel's side," begins the Reuters' narration which never once mentions that the Houthis are a designated terror organization. In the opening frame, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the terror organization, stands in front of a sign bearing the group's guiding words: "Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse the Jews."

But Reuters is silent on the Houthi's defining mission and instead falsely recasts the organization as representing a persecuted minority fighting for its rights and protection. While ostensibly addressing the question, "Who are the Houthis," the narrator covers up:

[Abdul Malik] Al-Houthi traces his lineage to the Prophet Mohammed and asserts that his Shiite Muslim movement is under siege because of its religion. The Houthi movement was formed to fight for the interests of the Zaidi Shiites, a minority sect that ruled a 1000-year-old kingdom in Yemen until 1962. They felt marginalized under Ali Abdullah Saleh, the first president of a unified Yemen.

Meanwhile, alongside that narration, footage shows a Houthi follower carrying a sign broadcasting those Ziadi Shiite interests so close to the movement's heart, but which Reuters stubbornly fails to articulate: "Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse the Jews."

Later, the video's narrator adds: "the Houthis deny being puppets of Tehran and say they are fighting a corrupt system and regional aggression."

The Reuters' voiceover likewise helpfully includes an Iranian denial: "The top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they are independent and take their own strategic and operational decisions." But nowhere does Reuters supply any information on Iran's funding, training and arming of the Houthi terror group.

As Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated yesterday:

. . .  I mean, first of all, the Houthis don’t have the ability to do this without Iran helping them, okay? They don’t – I mean, they’ve learned how to make them, these drones and these sophisticated anti-ship drones, but this technology is coming from somewhere. Iran is helping them. Iran is helping them make these things, Iran is providing them the money to do these things, Iran is providing them with targeting information that they can use against us. I mean, without Iran, there is no Houthi threat of this magnitude. I mean, there’s a Houthi threat inside of Yemen, but not a Houthi threat against our Navy and against commercial shipping.

But rather than acknowledging the fact of Iranian arming, training and financing of the Yemenite terror organization, Reuters attributes the organization's arsenal to Abdul Malik al-Houthi's personal resourcefulness and grit. The admiring text states:

Al-Houthi is an enigmatic figure with a reputation as a fierce commander. Under his direction, his movement of mountain fighters grew to number tens of thousands, building a sophisticated arsenal that includes drones and ballistic missiles and fighting a decade of war against a powerful Saudi-led coalition.