The life of Ali Al Bukhaiti, a former spokesperson for the Houthis in Yemen and now a political and social activist residing in the UK, was one filled with changes.
Born in 1976 in the village of Al-Malha in the Dhamar Governorate to the Al-Hada tribe, he moved between several regions, living part of his childhood in Taiz.
“I also moved between Islamic sects and religions,” Bukhaiti reminisced in an exclusive conversation with The Jerusalem Post.
“Although our region mainly follows the Zaydi sect of Shi’ite Islam, the Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood school of thought dominated the region for a while.
“Therefore, I was influenced by Salafism and the Muslim Brotherhood in my early youth. Then I moved to the Zaydi sect under the influence of my maternal grandfather, who was the imam of a Zaydi mosque,” he said.
Bukhaiti explained that as early as the age of 14, he began to doubt his upbringing and religion.
“This was influenced by some discussions that took place in our family and because of my affiliation with the Yemeni Socialist Party.
“I gradually began rejecting some of the pillars of religion until I reached the point of becoming completely secular and an atheist at about the age of 20.
“From that time, I felt reconciled with all people and all religions and races,” he said.
Bukhaiti added that many in his family were atheists, “so my decision was unsurprising, and I did not have to hide my beliefs. Despite this, I did have to conceal my views from the traditional Yemeni society until I arrived in London in 2019.
“There, too, I was initially subjected to harsh criticism and attacks.”
According to Bukhaiti, “With time, even Yemenites got used to my opinions, and many began to accept my freedom of belief due to my activity and writings about the issue on social media.”
“I brought religious discussions to broad daylight and dragged clerics into absurd wars.”
Bukhaiti believes he has a vast influence on Yemeni society, mainly due to his millions of followers on various social media platforms.
Working with the Houthis up close
“My official relationship with the Houthis began inside a Yemeni intelligence prison in 2008 when I was imprisoned for hosting a British journalist with American citizenship, who was preparing a report on the group,” he said.
“We were arrested while heading to Saada to meet [Houthi leader] Abdul Malik al-Houthi.
“In prison, I got to know some of the group’s leaders, including [the former president of the Houthis’ Revolutionary Committee] Mohammed Ali al-Houthi.
“After the Arab Spring, I was appointed spokesman for a general forum of the revolutionary forces, of which the Houthis were part,” Bukhaiti continued.
Per Bukhaiti, “When the National Dialogue Conference of Yemen (NDC) was announced over a decade ago, the Houthis granted several of the seats allocated to them to that general forum.”
Bukhaiti then had a seat in the NDC in 2013. Later, he was appointed as the official spokesman for the Houthis within the NDC and as a member of the movement’s political council.
“I continued to work for them until I submitted my resignation in 2015 after they stormed the home of former Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. I had started criticizing the Houthis from the moment they entered Sanaa on September 19, 2014, because of their violations of human rights and of their seizing of people’s homes,” he said.
“During my time working with the movement, those who believed in a civil state and a secular system, including myself, were able to convince the Houthis to present a vision that expressed our aspirations, and initially they did present a civil vision,” Bukhaiti said.
“But after they stormed Sanaa and took over the capital, they began implementing their racist, sectarian vision, so I criticized them and then submitted my resignation,” he added.
“This was not what we agreed to,” Bukhaiti said he told them.
Bukhaiti stressed that the Houthis are a group that traditionally follows the Zaydi doctrine of Shi’ite Islam, an ancient doctrine that resembles the Sunni in many aspects.
“Then they adopted the political approach of the Islamic Revolution in Iran led by [the man who became the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah] Khomeini.
“Their leaders claim that they are more deserving of rule because they are descendants of the royal Hashemites, a bloodline that presumably connects back to the Prophet Muhammad himself, according to their claim. They aspire to establish their rule in Yemen, where the Zaydi imamate position was the dominant one in Yemen until 1962,” he said.
According to Bukhaiti, the Houthi movement is an extension of that political movement that ruled Yemen for hundreds of years, with one prominent difference: “The Houthis have expansionist ambitions into Saudi Arabia. They want to rule Mecca as an extension of the Hashemite rule, and for this, Saudi Arabia loathes.”
When asked about the Houthis’ strengths and weaknesses, Bukhaiti said that the Houthis are “part and parcel of the Yemeni people, and their identity and their presence extends for centuries.”
“They are not a haphazard movement in the history of Yemen, and they are unified and follow one leader,” he added.
“As for their weaknesses, they are a minority in Yemen – and the majority currently despises them and are waiting for the opportunity to be rid of them. The Houthis are not progressive, which does not fit with our times,” he said, adding that all countries of the region were against them “except for the Sultanate of Oman, maybe.”
When prompted on his views for a solution to the Yemeni problem, Bukhaiti added: “The solution to the Yemeni issue begins with defeating the Houthis and ending their rule over Sanaa.
“Then, a political dialogue must occur in the form of a new system of government and a constitution. Israel can contribute to this by working to establish an international coalition to overthrow the Houthi authority similar to the US-led coalition that overthrew ISIS in Iraq and Syria,” he suggested.
The Jews of Arabia
Despite his upbringing in Yemen, where society traditionally holds anti-Israel and antisemitic views, Bukhaiti has written a great deal about the Jews of Yemen.
“As I see it, our ancestors were all Jewish. We were subjected to an Islamic invasion, and our ancestors were forced to identify as Muslims.
“I have written about this a lot, and many Yemenites have become more accepting of these issues due to their hatred of the Houthis.
“Despite this, they also believe that Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians distort Jews and Judaism. Yet, I do believe that most Yemenites love the Yemeni Jews in Israel and have become more accepting of them,” Bukhaiti continued.
As for his striking willingness to openly talk to Israeli media, Bukhaiti said: “I don’t see any difference between Israeli media and other news sources. On the contrary, I see that Israeli media is more accepting of other opinions compared to Arab media.”
True to his character, Bukhaiti did not hide his criticism of the Israeli policies, either.
“I do not have a hostile position towards Israel as a people and a state. But I do have a position on the policy of successive Israeli governments because of their crimes against the Palestinians – the siege and the occupation,” he said.
“I have previously received an official invitation to visit Israel and am ready to visit it at the earliest opportunity.
“My first goal is to meet Yemeni Jews and apologize to them for what the regime of Imam Yahya in Yemen did to them regarding Operation Magic Carpet in the 1950s, as I wrote some time ago,” he added, evoking a 2022 post that the Foreign Affairs Ministry account in Arabic wrote, in which Bukhaiti was invited to Israel.
“Israel must stop its infringements against the Palestinians’ rights. I see this as the main reason for the hatred directed towards Jews, not only in Israel but around the world,” Bukhaiti continued.
“My message is that we, as Arabs and Jews, can coexist. The Israeli government must find a settlement with the Palestinians that provides them with the minimum of their rights. The majority of Arabs are ready for peace and reconciliation with Israel and the Jewish people. But this can only happen once the Palestinian issue is settled,” he concluded.