Djibouti's Foreign Minister, Mahmoud Ali Youssef, confirmed today that his country did not condemn the Sanaa attacks in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, because it considered them "true relief for the Palestinians."Youssef said in a television interview: Djibouti has reservations about participating in the coalition formed by the United States, even though the cessation of maritime trade in Bab al-Mandab will harm Djibouti’s economy.He pointed out that maritime trade is an essential part of Djibouti's national income, and if Bab al-Mandab is closed, "its economy will collapse."He added: The Yemeni Ansar Allah group “attacked the ships in order to rescue and relieve the Palestinians, and we must all support Palestine because brother supports his brother, even with the weakest faith, and Djibouti does not condemn the Yemeni operations because they are a fraternal duty.”
The US has a military base in Djibouti, as do Italy, Japan, Germany, Spain and Saudi Arabia. None of them are fans of the Houthis or Hamas. They could put economic pressure on a country that is utterly dependent on them to issue statements denouncing Hamas, condemning its massacre on October 7, call on it to release hostages.
But they don't.
The honor/shame mentality is not only individual. It is also at the level of tribes, countries and ethnic groups. As this statement makes clear, Arabs must not show cracks in their unity, because it would be shameful to expose differences of opinion in front of the larger world.
This gives a huge advantage to violent Arab extremists. They can count on unquestioned public support by a half billion fellow Arabs or two billion fellow Muslims no matter what heinous acts they perform. As long as they don't attack fellow Arabs, they have an automatic cheering section that is willing to support, rally and lie for them.
There is a huge irony here. Jews are accused by antisemites of having a single, secret agenda. It makes no sense to accuse Jews of controlling the government or various industries unless you accept as a premise that Jews are monolithic and working towards a single agenda. Yet Jews are the least homogenous group there is. Jews are willing and often eager to publicly argue and disagree with other Jews.
But Arabs, and Muslims, are much more monolithic. They will support each other even when they disagree with what they are doing. They will publicly pledge solidarity even when that hurts themselves.
The Houthis aren't saving a single Palestinian life. They are following the instructions of (non-Arab) Iran. They are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Arab civilians. But when they claim they are fighting Israel, they get automatic, reflexive public support from the larger Arab world.
Just as Hamas is.
The fiction of Arab unity, fueled by "honor," was part of Hamas' calculations when they decided to start this war. No matter how horrified some Arabs might be at Hamas, they will not criticize the group in public.
Which means that the honor/shame culture that mandates Arab and Muslim unity is a culture that encourages war and terror.
