Houthis use Epstein allegations to target Saudi leadership
According to the New York Times, the Iran-backed movement is conducting a propaganda campaign linking the Saudi authorities to the American sex offender
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement is using the Jeffrey Epstein affair to discredit Saudi leaders, spreading allegations through its media outlets and social media networks, according to The New York Times.
The campaign centers on claims that cloth from the covering of the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine in Mecca, was given to Epstein, the American financier convicted of sex offenses. The reporting cited does not establish whether the alleged gift occurred or whether Saudi leaders were involved.
Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthis’ Supreme Political Council, repeated the allegation in the movement’s official media. “Those who gave Epstein the cover of the Kaaba are the ones targeting Mecca,” he said. Numerous social media accounts subsequently amplified his remarks.
Mohammed al-Basha, a Washington-based Yemen analyst and founder of the Basha Report consultancy, said the Houthis operate an extensive communications network spanning television, websites, radio, newspapers, email campaigns, and official and informal social media accounts. The movement also maintains ties with content creators, helping its messages reach wider audiences.
According to al-Basha, the Houthis and other members of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” regularly invoke Epstein as a symbol of the corruption they attribute to the United States and Israel. The latest campaign extends that rhetoric to Saudi leaders.