Last month, the Palestinian Authority president gave a speech simultaneously absolving the Nazis of anti-Semitism and arguing that the Holocaust was justified. The speech attracted widespread media coverage, condemnation from the European Union, and even an open letter of denunciation from a group of Palestinian academics. (The past statements of such signatories as Rashid Khalidi does, however, raise questions about the writers’ sincerity.) Perhaps the most puzzling reaction came from the veteran American Middle East hand Martin Indyk, who said he was “despairing about how to respond” to this “profoundly anti-Semitic diatribe” from someone he considered “a personal friend for three decades.”

All these responses are far more newsworthy than the speech itself, in which Abbas simply repeated a sampling of the canards about Jews he has spent his entire career spouting—as the Middle East Media Research Institute details:

These statements are in fact part of a comprehensive anti-Semitic ideology Abbas has espoused and elaborated on over the years. This ideology includes blaming the persecution of Europe’s Jews, from the Middle Ages to the Holocaust, on their behavior or “social role” in Europe, while repeating classic anti-Semitic tropes such as the Jews’ avariciousness—yet at the same time questioning the scope of the Holocaust and the authenticity of the gas chambers. Another central theme in this ideology is accusing the Zionist movement of collaborating with the Nazis and of resembling the Nazis in its ideas and methods. Abbas’s accusations against the Zionist movement and Israel likewise incorporate anti-Semitic themes such as allegations about poisoning wells.

Some of Abbas’s ideas were set out in his 1982 doctoral dissertation, submitted to the Oriental College in Moscow and titled The Secret Connection between Nazism and Zionism—1933-1945.

For more than a year, the Iran-backed Houthis have been launching drones and missiles at ships traversing the Red Sea, as well as at Israeli territory, in support of Hamas. This development has drastically curtailed shipping through the Suez Canal and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, driving up trade prices. This week, the Trump administration began an extensive bombing campaign against the Houthis in an effort to reopen that crucial waterway. Burcu Ozcelik highlights another benefit of this action:

The administration has a broader geopolitical agenda—one that includes countering China’s economic leverage, particularly Beijing’s reliance on Iranian oil. By targeting the Houthis, the United States is not only safeguarding vital shipping lanes but also exerting pressure on the Iran-China energy nexus, a key component of Beijing’s strategic posture in the region.

China was the primary destination for up to 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports in 2024, underscoring the deepening economic ties between Beijing and Tehran despite U.S. sanctions. By helping fill Iranian coffers, China aids Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in financing proxies like the Houthis. Since October of last year, notable U.S. Treasury announcements have revealed covert links between China and the Houthis.

Striking the Houthis could trigger broader repercussions—not least by disrupting the flow of Iranian oil to China. While difficult to confirm, it is conceivable and has been reported, that the Houthis may have received financial or other forms of compensation from China (such as Chinese-made military components) in exchange for allowing freedom of passage for China-affiliated vessels in the Red Sea.