 Coming up, we're going to be discussing a new Yemen War Powers Resolution. We expect to be introduced by Congress members Jayapal and Defazio. We have an excellent guest, Hassan Al-Sayib, who is the Legislative Director Policy Advisor over in the Middle East for the Friends Committee and also Jihan Hakim, and she is with the Yemeni Alliance Committee, the YAC. So we'll meet them in a minute, but first, I think you have some updates for us. Well, in terms of Afghanistan, you can see the beautiful mountains behind me. I am not there right now, but my heart is there. I was there just a little more than a week ago. And follow up, well, today there are 45 human rights and humanitarian aid groups signed a letter going to Biden to ask him to release that $7 billion of Afghan money that has been frozen in U.S. banks. And I will put a link to that letter here. And we are a delegation of women that has been doing amazing follow up congressional briefings and now individual meetings with Congress people. And we have a very unique call tomorrow morning that we've set up with officials of the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan. Now these are members of the Taliban because they're the ones in control. And it's going to be over Zoom and we've invited Congress people to join us. So that should be very interesting. We want them to see how concerned our Congress people are about the education for girls. And we want to start a dialogue between them. So that should be really interesting. And that's it for Afghanistan in terms of Ukraine. As you all know, the horrific fighting continues, which means we have to do more to be calling for negotiations, negotiations, negotiations, settlement, settlement, settlement. And that our next day of actions we've just declared will be May 7th. It's a Saturday and we're very broad in what we call actions. It could be rallying people in your town. It could be getting a couple of people out who will do some flyering and we're doing a great flyer on this that you can educate people with. And when people say we are really concerned about the people of Ukraine, you say we are too, which is why we have to find a way to stop the fighting and save lives. And so we encourage you to do something on May 7th. This is something we're doing with groups all over the world, particularly in Europe. And so if you go on to the website, peaceinukraine.org, register something in your town. And again, if it's only you and a couple of people, at least you will be represented as doing something for a negotiated solution in Ukraine. So thank you, Marcy. Thank you, Medea. And while we're talking about amplifying the voice for peace, I'd like to share with everyone a page that details Code Pink Radio, our episodes. Because this is one of the best kept secrets of Code Pink. We have a radio program that we produce once a week. And we are taking a lot of what we talk about on Code Pink Congress and repurposing it for Code Pink Radio. But it also includes webinars and zooms from other Code Pink campaigns. So Shayla Bauer, who is our tech navigator organizer of Code Pink Congress liaisons, she's going to share with us the page for Code Pink Radio. It's codepink.org backslash radio, pretty easy to remember. And right now, she'll share the screen. We'll take a look at what's on Code Pink Radio and how you can amplify it. So one way you can amplify it is ask yourself, do we have a non-commercial radio station in our city? Perhaps at our college radio station or a Pacifica station. We are on WBAI in New York. We are on KPFT in Houston. Both of those are Pacifica stations. We'd like to be on all the Pacifica stations. And so if you're in Berkeley and we're not on KPFA, ask the program director. When are you going to start Aaron Code Pink Radio? If you're in Los Angeles, ask the program director at KPFK. When are you going to start Aaron KPFK? If you have a college radio station, call up the program director. Tell him you want them to air Code Pink Radio. And you can direct them to our website. Here we are. And you can see right here, tune in. Ukraine, prospects for peace and Palestine attacks on human rights activists. So this was taken directly from our Code Pink Congress. And it lists all the episodes, fabulous, fabulous information. People are not going to hear on corporate media the voices for peace. So please do spread the word. Thank you, Shea. Before we get started tonight, I wanted to check in with one of our national co-directors. She was just announced as our new national co-director. We're so thrilled. Danika Katowicz, who has been working and organizing Middle East on our various Middle East campaigns and working diligently on this New Yemen War powers resolution. So greetings, Danika. Hi, everyone. I'm getting used to that title, but very, very exciting. It's good to see everyone's faces, even cooler to see Hassan and Jahan here, who I've known for many, many years now. Since before I was even at Code Pink, I started off as Hassan's intern and I'm here. So we come full circle. I started in my advocacy working on the Yemen War Powers Resolution in 2017 or 2018. So I've been doing this for a while now. And I just want to say that no progress that's been made in the U.S. around ending U.S. support for the war in Yemen would have been made without amazing and incredible activists like Hassan and Jahan, who are going to be your really awesome guests today and we'll get more in the weeds with you about the foreign policy of it all and what a war powers resolution even is. So I'm really, really grateful for them and for all of you. I know there are probably a few Code Pink Congress liaisons here that I've worked with to set up meetings about a war powers resolution, our ask being getting your rep to be an original co-sponsor of the bill to show it really has some oomph in Congress. So, yeah, I'm really excited to be with you all today. More than happy to help you set up or give you talking points, walk you through a war powers resolution, you know, talking points for your rep specifically, depending on their politics. So you can email me if you want to set up a member with if you want to set up a meeting with your member of Congress. So we can talk through that a little bit more. Wonderful. So Danica, post your email if you haven't already done so in the chat, please. And again, I want to remind everybody, do introduce yourselves in the chat. Let us know where you're from, if you know who your Congressperson is. Yes, we would love to know that. What committees they serve on, you know, whatever you can do, do let us know. And we're so thrilled to have Danica as one of our co-chairs of Code Pink. She not only has been working on the Yemen War powers resolution and other Middle East campaigns, but she's also the organizer of the Code Pink Youth Peace Collective. And we've had some Peace Collective members host, co-host, Code Pink Congress and look forward to that continuing. So at this point, I would like to just give some general background on tonight on the agenda, what's happening and then go to our guests. So tonight we're going to be deconstructing the truce. There's been a truce declared between the Houthis and Saudis over Yemen. We're going to take a look at that. We're going to look deeply at the humanitarian crisis, which we are complicit in funding the Saudi-led coalition's attacks on Yemen. We are going to look at the next step with the Yemen War powers resolution and what we can do throughout the evening. Shay will be posting a link to a campaign that we have. You can send an email to your congressional rep or house rep asking your rep to be an original co-sponsor of this Yemen War powers resolution, which has not been introduced yet. We want to we want a lot of co-sponsors out of the gate. So do look for that. And at one point we'll be stopping to make sure that everybody takes advantage of this opportunity for action. And with that, I would like to introduce our first guest, Jihann Hakim, chairs the Yemeni Alliance Committee. This is a committee that organizes protests and actions, coordinates congressional visits, creates social media tool kits. I'm exhausted and campaigns to resist anti-Yemeny policies. YAC's focus has been advocating to end US support for the Saudi-led war on Yemen. By raising awareness, a lot of people don't know about this. We hear a lot about Ukraine, very little about Yemen, over which we have direct control. And she has a B.A. in political science. She lives in the Bay Area. She's a native of the Bay Area and her family is originally from Yemen. She is also on the board of just foreign policy. Welcome, Jihann. We're so thrilled that you're with us tonight. The floor is yours. Thank you so much for having me and thank you, everyone, for joining the call. So I hope to kind of refresh our memory and kind of like how we got here before we go into the truce, if that's OK. Because, you know, like you said earlier, as we're doing lobby visits, even as we're doing actions in the Bay Area in the progressive Bay Area, people still don't know what's happening. So if we remember on the eve of March 26 and 2015, which is over seven years ago now, Saudi Arabia under the leadership of Menik bin Salman MBS, who was the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, who had only been in charge at that point for about two months, began launching air strikes on Yemen, so escalating a civil war into a regional inferno. So bombing border stations, shelling from the sea and Yemen's tiny military base was destroyed earlier on by the seven Saudi-led air strikes. And this move was made from Washington, D.C., by the Obama administration. So what Yemen is experiencing is not a civil war. I know a lot of pundits and experts and even humanitarian agencies call what's happening in Yemen a civil war, but it has not. Since 2015, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and its coalition of other Arab countries have been bombing Yemen. So aerial bombardment in the coalition has been backed and supported by the US, the UK and other Western partners who have been providing the coalition with so the US trains, Saudi forces. We also maintain repair and upgrade the coalition's vehicles and aircrafts. We provide intelligence support and targeting assistance. And, you know, if you remember back in August of 2018, when the school bus was bombed and it was our targeting assistance that provided that, you know, mistake. There was a mistake that was made. And there are tons of children were killed on their way to school. And up until recently, we used to refuel Saudi warplanes midair. And that ended in about 2018 when Khashoggi was murdered by the Saudi regime. In addition to military support, the United States under the Obama administration, which continued under Trump and continues now under Biden, provide the coalition with arms. So US made bombs made by companies such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Boyan. And that's all courtesy of us. And since 2015, there have been over 377 Yemenis who have been killed. And two-third of civilian deaths are due to airstrikes. Also, since 2015, the blockade of Yemen has killed tens of thousands of people and has wreaked havoc on the country. And the blockade is what? Because I think a lot of people, you know, here embargo, here blockade, but essentially what it means is that Yemen is effectively locked in. So there is a restriction on seaports on land. There have been, you know, fuel ships that have been tatering on the border, but not allowed in, which means that over 16 million people in Yemen are food insecure. And that has created only exacerbated the COVID situation. It has killed one in four people who test positive in Yemen. So that gives us a kind of an overview of what it's been looking like. It's called the world's worst humanitarian crisis for this very reason. Yemen has been effectively starved to death and bombed from some pretty wealthy superpowers. But there's been a shift. So in March 31st, there was a broker agreement or a truce that came to be. And this was as a result of a combination of just high end internal conflicts, inflation, and the Houthis or insata law striking at Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. And I think that was the ultimate push. It was implemented on April 1st, which was the first day of Ramadan. And it's the month of fast. And it could be physically straining on people, especially Yemenis who are already malnourished and hungry. It is scheduled to take place for two months and with hopes of renewal. It's an informal agreement to stop fighting, essentially. That's what it is. The truce also states that the Saudi imposed blockade would allow for 18 shipments to pass and that the Sana'a International Airport would be open for limited flights. Here we are about two weeks since the truce, which has been broadly holding, but there have not been any flights out of Sana'a. So we heard during the first week that there would be a flight. We heard last week that there would be one last Wednesday and we're hearing that there should be one tomorrow. But to date, no planes have flew out of Sana'a. We heard from Yemeni Airlines saying their official spokesperson said that the technical equipment needed to operate flights to Sana'a International Airport are fully prepared and that the only obstacle in place is that the coalition has not yet granted the necessary permits for them to fly out. An upside of the truce is that there have been no airstrikes. And that's the first time since March of 2015 that Yemen has not been experiencing aerial bombardment. We're also hearing that a number of ships have already entered Yemen's ports of Hodeidah, but with a country that relies on over 80% of imported goods, a number of ships isn't good enough. Yemen needs 500,000 tons of food and 400,000 tons of fuel per month. And so we're not there yet. With respect to food and medicine, we're not hearing that any containers have arrived into Yemen. So there are many ships that the coalition continued to hold, which means that the blockade continues to be in place and continues to starve Yemenis, unfortunately. There is an update as of last Wednesday that the United States Navy said that they'll begin a new task force with allied countries to patrol the Red Sea. And we're seeing here that the U.S. is continuously to get involved, but not in ways that would relieve the impact of the war or the blockade. And in response to this, a Houthi spokesperson said that the American move in the Red Sea in light of the humanitarian and military truce in Yemen contradicts Washington's claim that it supports the truce. So I can't say that I don't disagree on it because it's not looking like we're taking a stance that is towards the pathway of peace. So what has the war in Ukraine, what kind of impact that has to have on Yemen? So the war in Ukraine has exacerbated the humanitarian condition in Yemen by making food even more scarce. Like I said, Yemen relies heavily on imported goods and when it comes to wheat, and we rely on Ukraine and Russia for that. So the UN reported that Yemen could see its famine numbers increased by five folds. But I don't want to us to have our attention be too focused on the impact of Ukraine's or Russia's war on Ukraine and completely neglect the blockade. And I think that's what's happening here. We heard Linda Thomas Greenfield, who is a UN Security Council member, when she briefed the Council last week saying, and Putin's work choice in Ukraine has made an already pervious food insecurity situation in Yemen even worse. So I think that's true on one hand, but at the same time, the UN's blatant disregard for the Saudi imposed US upheld blockade on Yemen that has starved millions of Yemenis, it seems deliberate, especially as she goes into praise of the coalition's contribution, saying that we welcome the Saudi announcement of $300 million contribution to the UN humanitarian response plan. So I think that we need to remember that the coalition cannot throw donations on an open wound on Yemen's manmade war, where the coalition is a source of a devastation. And unfortunately, the UN and other foreign NGOs rely heavily on both the Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their funding. So it's this oxymoron where the coalition is fueling the war on Yemen or actually being the culprits of it, and also are also large donors. So it's quite an unfortunate circumstance, but I want us to make sure that we don't know while folks are denying that the blockade exists. We do know that it exists. Folks have tried this tactic before, where they attempt to justify using food as a weapon, and I point to the CNN report last year. They did an amazing piece on what the blockade looks like, and that it is indeed real. And also as we're talking about comparisons between Ukraine and Russia, not only is there a double standard when how the media displays their experience for more, Ukraine's experience for more, and Yemen's experience for more, one being humanized and the other one dismissed. Ukraine received close to $1 billion after a month of war, which is great. It's amazing that the compassion of the global community is there. But if we look at Yemen, humanitarian agencies in Yemen said they only received $1.9 billion, of the $3.4 billion required for the humanitarian response to an ongoing seven-year war. And that's a problem. We should be showing our compassion for, as much compassion as we show for Ukraine, we should show for the people of Yemen and Afghanistan and elsewhere. So I guess I can pause there, and then we can have Hassan, I think, go into more of the advocacy work. Thank you so much, Jihan, for that valuable overview. And I encourage you, Jihan, to post in the chat a request that you would like people to make of their member of Congress or even of Barbara Lee, who's the chair of the subcommittee over foreign operations. We'll get into that more during the Q&A. Now we're going to go to our next guest, Medea Benjamin. We'll introduce him. Yes. Thank you so much, Jihan. I'm really glad you brought up the hypocrisy of the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and the hypocrisy of the bragging about how generous we are, and the Saudis are, and the Emirates are in terms of humanitarian aid, while we would continue to blockade and bomb the people of Yemen. And I'm delighted to introduce our next speaker, Hassan Al-Ta'ib, who is the legislative director for Middle East policy for the Friends Committee on National Legislation, also known as FCNL, the Quaker group that does great lobbying. Prior to that, he was the co-director of the advocacy group, Just Foreign Policy, and he played a very key role in getting Congress to pass the war powers resolution before. I also want to say that Hassan is a fantastic singer, guitar player, and songwriter, and he's very multi-talented and we're very lucky in this peace movement to have you, Hassan. So thanks so much for being with us. Oh, well, thank you so much, Medea and Jihan. Thanks for that lead-up. And congrats, Danica, on the promotion. I love to see that. So, yes, this is a very critical moment in the war in Yemen. Folks on this call, I'm sure, have been following this. I know this is one of the most dedicated group of activists in the entire country and has been seized of Yemen for so long. But we are at this critical moment because of the truce that Jihan explained. And, you know, the warring parties have agreed to this two-month truce with the option to extend. And we're hoping that this can be turned into something long-lasting. You know, we haven't seen a full lifting of restrictions on the blockade. They haven't opened up Sana'a Airport. There is fighting in Marib. But the fact that we have seen, you know, an end to airstrikes and cross-border attacks is something that I think we need to build on and keep working. And I think it's important, you know, what we've been working on here is fully ending U.S. military participation in this Saudi-led war and blockade. And I think now is the precise moment. Some people have asked me on the Hill, well, why do we need this now? I mean, you know, they've already agreed to a truce. Shouldn't we just kind of back off and let this happen? No, if we make clear to the Saudi-led coalition that there will be no U.S. military support for a resumption of their hostilities, then I think we can make this stick and we can turn this into a longer-lasting, longer-lasting peace settlement. And that's why I'm really excited to share with you all that Reps Jayapal and Defazio have announced their plans to introduce a new Yemen war powers resolution to do just that. And I think this is really critical. So just a couple things are on that particular piece of legislation. We are trying to build up cosponsors. We're not, you know, ready to introduce just yet. But there are a couple key folks that I wanted to mention that have joined. Adam Schiff, he's the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has joined as a co-lead. So I think this is a very important development and something that folks can share with their members of Congress when they say, hey, you know, I'd like you to get on. It's Jayapal Defazio plus Adam Schiff. If you have a Republican member of Congress, I'll also say that Rep Mace Biggs and Gates have joined on as early supporters as well. So you can show that, yes, there's Republicans. We've got Democrats. And this is a truly bipartisan effort, as it always has been, since the beginning of this whole process. So while the truce has had a positive impact on Yemen's humanitarian crisis, you know, U.N. officials are still warning that this is still a desperate, desperate situation with roughly 20.7 million people in need of humanitarian aid for survival, you know, 2.2 million children under the age of five are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition over the course of 2022 and could die without urgent treatment. You know, again, the war in Ukraine, the comments by Linda Thomas Greenfield are totally hypocritical when our government here is supporting the Saudi-led coalition. But the war in Ukraine nonetheless is having a major impact on wheat around the world. And Yemen imports 27% of its wheat from Ukraine and 8% from Russia and that the U.N. is saying that famine numbers could increase five-fold. So this is really the precise time when we need to double down, get support for this Yemen war powers resolution, try to make this settlement turn into something longer, something more sustainable, and also actually follow through on the commitments that were already made, which includes finally letting the 18 fuel ships in, finally opening up Sana'a Airport to civilian traffic. You know, and it's something that I will say that you're hearing a lot of stuff from members who are kind of reluctant to support. You know, they'll give you any excuse in the book, not everybody, but there are a handful of members I've chatted with. And one thing I always try to tell them is like, this is something you've already done before. They passed this National Offense Authorization Act Amendment in September under Biden. So as people are pushing back, just know that you have, you know, congressional precedent on your side, we've got bipartisan support on your side. Tomorrow, you know, there's going to be, you know, coalition statements going out in support of this Yemen war powers resolution. So there's plenty of national support. And, you know, I just think we can do this, we can get this done if we just keep increasing the pressure. And one last thing I'll leave you with is that the Quakers are fired up too. I know Coach Pick is rocking this, but we got a lot of Quakers around the country that are focusing on Yemen war powers resolution exclusively all year long. And they've already done 200 lobby visits on Yemen to date. It's not a competition. But I think we can get those phone lines burning tonight and just keep this going and keep this love fest going for Yemen. So with that, maybe I can turn it over to Marcy and Bindiya and we can take any of your questions. Thank you so much Hassan al-Taid. Oops. Yeah, I'm on. Okay. Hassan al-Taid with the National Friends Committee. I would like to now pause for a moment so that we can take some action before we go to the Q&A. So Shay is going to post in the chat our campaign that Danica wrote, which will, if you click on it, you'll be sending a message to your Congress member. There it is. Tell your representative to support a Yemen war powers resolution. Has it been introduced yet? No, not yet. But we want, out the gate, we want a lot of co-sponsors. So all they have to do is call the Vazio's office or call Jayapal's office and say, write me down, put me down as a co-sponsor. So do click on that link and we'll be taking a look tomorrow to see how many of you took action and we really, we really urge you to do it. It's not much. There's also a number you can call 202-224-3121. That's the Capitol Hill switchboard. You can ask for your house representative and leave a message. Tell them you're sending an email too. You want them to call Jayapal's office. You want them to call the Vazio and to be an original co-sponsor. Hassan mentioned that there are some key people, critical people that we want to see add. Adam Schiff has agreed to be a co-sponsor. That's terrific. He's chair of the House Intelligence Committee. So that's important. And he represents an area in Southern California. We also need the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, right? Adam Smith has yet to sign on. We've been urging him to do so. If you're in his district, please give him a call, leave a message, send lots of emails, get your friends to send emails. And what's happening with Meeks? Well, he also needs a nudge. They're huge. Don Smith says, I'm meeting with Representative Smith tomorrow. No relation. So thank you, Don, for doing that. And I think you've got a group that's going to be meeting with him. And it's so important because it's supposed to be the people's house. I was just going to say on those two members in particular, they are so, so critical. Greg Meeks, he's the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, know that they have both voted for the Yemen War Powers Resolution. They both voted for the Ghana Amendment in September. And they both have local coalition letters coming their way. So thank you, Washington. Thank you, New York. Just throwing that out there. Okay, let's open up this Q&A. If you have a question, please post it in the chat. I want to come back with a question about, you know, the pushback that we might anticipate from somebody like Gregory Meeks or Adam Smith. They might say, look, we're not giving them any more offensive weapons. This is merely defensive. So what would you say in response to that? Asan, you want to take that first and, Johanna? Sure. So, you know, this is definitely interesting question. So, okay, offensive support, defensive support. You say tomato, I say tomato. So I think the thing is the administration has never defined the difference between offensive and defensive. So we don't really know exactly what they mean by that. We're taking their word for it. But either way, this support sends a message of impunity to Saudi Arabia, regardless whether or not, you know, no matter what the weapon system is, it's wanted, they can all be used to kill people. But no matter what the weapon system is, it sends a message of impunity to Saudi Arabia as in a time where we should be using US leverage to lift the Saudi blockade that's starving the people of Yemen. So that's how I would answer that. I will say another thing that I've heard. And I want you all to be ready for this if you get this in your meeting. They say, okay, well, we actually agree with you, Asan. You know, we agree with you, Marci. We agree with you, Johanna, that we need to end support for this war. But the war powers is just not the way to do it. We got to do this through other vehicles. And, you know, the war powers, it's like, well, one, the war powers resolution is Congress's vehicle. And, you know, if they Congress can interpret it as it wants. So if Congress wants to use the war powers resolution to go after spare parts and maintenance, even if they're from private contractors, they are within their rights to do that. We don't have to accept this executive branch interpretation of the War Powers Act. Congress is the boss of Article 1. Congress is the boss of war powers. And we're asking you as taxpayers to end our funding and our support for this war. And we want you to use this vehicle. And what's great about it is it gets us a floor vote. Things like the National Defense Authorization Act, those amendments get in. And as you all know, they get easily stripped out. But the war powers resolution, you know, we get expedited floor consideration that gets on the floor of the House, gets on the floor of the Senate if everything goes as planned and really can move this conversation forward. Thank you, Hassan. Yes, I would say to my Congressperson, when did you vote to authorize the United States War on Yemen? Right? John, would you like to add something? Yeah, I would say why is the U.S. in the business of defending Saudi Arabia anyways? Why is that our responsibility? And especially as we're seeing these, I don't think F615s or M16s know who they're hitting, whether they're offensive or defensive. They don't care, you know? And it hasn't made a difference whether it's offensive or defensive. Yemeni civilians continue to be, you know, victims of these weapons, whether they're offensive or defensive. And also wanted to just remind folks, like, when the war powers resolution was introduced back in 1973, it was a pivotal, you know, moment in the anti-war movement. So why are we trying to dismiss that, you know? I just, I would just really be cautioned, folks, to take in anything that reps or any of the experts are saying when they say, let's use a different vehicle. This vehicle was put in place to really check the presidential powers, which they don't have the power to do this. This is only the role of Congress. So essentially, the war in Yemen is an illegal war. And we are going to use the war powers resolution to really peel it back. And it's an unfortunate, you know, sequence of events that we have to kind of do this after the fact. But this is a powerful vehicle that has been put in place for three decades now, over three decades. Thank you, Jihan. Yes. And thank you to those in the chat, particularly Robert Naiman, who is answering a lot of questions so beautifully. And it helps the dialogue to just keep moving along. I think one of the questions here that is just so important is, so we have this truce right now. When does a negotiated settlement happen? And what does it look like? And maybe as we discuss that, you can also say what's the significance that Hadi has handed over his power, and maybe you could explain that to this new group of six supported by the Saudis. What does that mean? So basically, you know, where do we go from here? And why don't we start out with Jihan and then Hassan, maybe you want to add to that? I think there's been a lot of talk around Saudi Arabia wanting to push Hadi aside for some time now. And it finally happened. So it wasn't a surprise to Yemenis at all. And it's long overdue. The people of Yemen have not looked up to Hadi as anyone that's legitimate or a leader of a country, especially since he's been the runaway president for, since 2015. And then with respect to this council who was handpicked by Melek bin Salman and Melek bin Zayed, you know. That's the UAE and the Saudi. Right, right, both the Saudi, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates leaders. It's, you know, it's, this is not an inclusive Yemeni-led political council. You know, I think and they said themselves that we are ready for peace, but we're also ready for war. So we're trying to be hopeful that, that, you know, there's, there's been some peace in Yemen, but at the same time, as soon as they arrive in Yemen, there's going to be, there's going to be discontent. There's going to be a lot of disagreements because this is not an inclusive council. And they're essentially going to be coming together with the backing of the coalition to attack the Houthis if necessary. So, you know, hopefully the negotiations that are going to go on for from now until the next couple of months, although they haven't been really defined since this is an informal truce, but we're hoping that there's going to be some kind of agreement to uphold peace. Thank you, Jihan. And you could explain what peace looks like. You know, what are some of the demands on each side and where is the compromise there? Yeah. So if, if I may just build on what Jihan said. So you've got this eight-person presidential leadership council. And while it's, you know, it's good, finally we kind of turn the page on the Hadi because that was the original goal of the Saudi-led coalition is to restore President Hadi to power. This, you know, basically a president that was, you know, living inside Riyadh, you know, under house arrest. So now there's two ways this could go. They could be, you know, coming together and negotiating sort of a peace deal, you know, and kind of ending the war that way, or, you know, consolidating their power as this presidential leadership council to keep the fighting going. And I'm really hoping for the latter. You know, this is not a long-term solution for Yemen by any means. This eight-person, you know, coalition are dudes with guns, essentially. It's a lot of military backed by the UAE, backed by Saudi represents people with completely diverging interests and could be the, you know, seeds for even more conflict. But what I think I just want to bring it back full circle to the war powers resolution, getting this a lot of support is the way we incentivize them to stay at the negotiating table and off the battlefield. If they know that they're not going to get air cover from the Saudi-led coalition, they're going to really have to, you know, come to the negotiating table, keep this ceasefire going and hopefully extend it. As far as, you know, what peace looks like in Yemen, I'm taking this day by day. I want to get one fuel ship in. I want to get the next fuel ship in. I want to make sure that we get two flights out of Sana'a airport and then just kind of slowly build because this is a massive wound. And, you know, we've got a lot of work to do just to kind of stitch this situation back together. Ultimately, Yemenis have to decide the future of Yemen. They need to, you know, come together, whether or not that's, you know, a federation or, you know, some sort of a new national dialogue. There's work that we can do to help support diplomacy. One thing we can do is actually replace the old UN Security Council resolution 2216 that was written in 2015 by Saudi Arabia, essentially, passed through the UN Security Council. And that, you know, is basically the, you know, the whole basis for any Saudi ceasefire or truce or peace agreement is usually based on this outdated framework that's not inclusive at all. So one thing we can do in the international community to support an eventual long-lasting settlement is to replace that with a more inclusive peace framework at the UN. But I digress there. But really, you know, our focus is getting one ship in, getting the next ship in, making sure that we somehow stabilize this humanitarian crisis. Thank you, Hassan. Here's a question, a follow-up. What do the panelists see as a political solution end game? How can we push for true civil society and representative organizations in decision-making rather than simple sharing between Houthis and Saudi-backed elites or stuges where representative groups are excluded? I did, Johan, please. We did kind of cover this, but if she has more to say, please. Yeah, I mean, thank you, Hassan. I think if the international community wants to be an agent for peace, that we all must check our government's participation and work towards ending their role systemically. So, you know, like Hassan said, it's beyond any of us to dictate what should happen in Yemen and Afghanistan or elsewhere. What we've been trying to push is just end this empire and that has been wreaking havoc across the globe. I mean, our climate is, you know, even if we don't agree, our climate is hurting and that's something that encompasses all we all live under this world. This is our earth. So, ending arms sales, ending military support to the coalition and press them to lift the blockade. So peace looks like Yemeni's finally eating, no longer being starved, no longer food being used as a weapon. Instead of what we're seeing, you know, from the New York Times a couple days ago, as they ran a peace calling at Yemeni, Yemen's Houthis went from ragtag militia to force threatening Gulf powers, which is taunting the coalition, stoking the flames of war. And so we can be agents of peace by just really ending the role of the US, starting there and then, you know, agree with what Hassan said and the UN Security Council has a huge role just last year. They ended the only mandate, the accountability mechanism that can check for war crimes, especially as we're thinking about what do war crimes even mean? We're thinking about that now as we're looking at Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There isn't an accountability mechanism that checks all of the crimes that are occurring and taking place in Yemen. And we've seen ever since that resolution was defeated, we've seen a really a spike in civilian casualties. So there's a lot that can be done, but I think we can really focus on beginning to end the support of the US and other Western powers. And then we can have another conversation and see what it looks like to establish peace in Yemen. Thank you. I want to build on that in terms of talking about the regional powers and what influence they're having of somebody asked about the role that Israel is playing. And of course, there's always talk about this being a proxy war with Iran fighting the Saudis. So what really is the role of Iran? And I think it would be interesting to hear your take on the United Arab Emirates, given that they have said that they've pulled back, how much are they still involved? So Hassan, why don't you start and take any of those you'd like? Sure. So yeah, there's a lot there. I'll try to see what I can do. So what's Iran's involvement? You hear this a lot. It's true that Iran has provided weapons and trainings to the Houthis, but the support is often exaggerated. And Iran spends far less than the hundreds of billions of dollars that Saudi Arabia spent annually backing the Hadi forces in Yemen. A significant portion of Houthi weaponry. I think it's important to explain where these weapons are being sourced. A lot of it's been generated locally by defeating Saudi forces, looting army stockpiles, taking weapons from militias and tribes, and purchasing from the black market. But to that, I just overall say that Saudi's approach has failed. Iran is now drawn further into the conflict than before. And the Houthis have also consolidated more and more power. So on its own terms, the Saudi-led coalitions war and blockade has completely failed. It's completely destabilized Yemen. And on top of the humanitarian crisis, it's also created this security threat. So I kind of keep reminding politicians that are somehow sympathetic to what the Saudis are doing that this isn't even working in the way you think it is. The UAE has been playing a very destructive role. Now, yes, after the passage of the Yemen war powers resolution in 2019, after the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, you saw the UAE draw down militarily quite significantly, where they removed a lot of troops. But they have always been working with their proxies in Yemen. They have been funding, arming, training these militias. The Giants Brigade just did, they're backed by the UAE. They just had an assault on Houthi held territory, which prompted the Houthis to then respond and actually attack Abu Dhabi. And then after that, the UAE basically is lobbying with the help of the Israelis to get the Houthis labeled as a foreign terrorist organization. Now, this would be an absolute disaster if this ever were to happen. I don't think this is on the table anymore. It's kind of, you know, they've sort of at least postponed it or put it on the shelf for now. There's a real friendly guy in the National Security Council, Brett McGurk, look him up and actually don't you save yourself the trouble. He's not a very nice dude. But you know, essentially what they're saying is that we're going to label the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization and, you know, just be done with it. But that would essentially cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to so much of Yemen. And so rather than being a catalyst for peace, the FTO is just a recipe for more conflict, more fighting, more disaster, and further undermining US credibility. Last thing I'll say, and I'll kick it over to Jahan, if she has more, you know, the UAE is also, you know, obviously, I already said they're backing, you know, folks on the Presidential Leadership Council. But I always want to bring this up, is that they are occupying Sokotra Island, which is this natural heritage site, one of the most beautiful places in the entire world with, you know, hundreds of unique species, and they now have a military base there. So this is my side project, because I'm that nerdy. I have an amendment I'm pitching to the National Defense Authorization Act to prohibit any US military funding or US funding to support UAE annexation of Sokotra Island. So I'm working on that. Again, I get like, I got these little side projects going. Let's keep working on WPR. But if you, if you want to work on UAE too, let me know. Great. Thank you, Hassan. Maybe one or two more questions. Let's see if she wants to add anything to that. I love that project, Hassan. Please tag me in. I've never been to Sokotra myself. And it's so unfortunate that the UAE also has like their flags in Sokotra and other parts of the South. So they definitely are arming and equipping and supporting the STC, the Southern Transitional Council and other factions. So they're there. But their boots are not really on the ground anymore. But they have definitely done their part to make sure that they are, you know, they're sustaining their factions. And of course, taking over Sokotra. I would say about the Iran, we, any almost any news outlet, you will never see Houthis without having Iran aligned ahead of them or Iran backed. And I think that is a deliberate, you know, like subliminal or even explicit message that is propaganda. That so how can we make the Houthis look less human or more violent unless we include Iran? You know, so that, you know, well, then why else is the world staying quiet? Because Iran and Russia are the biggest, you know, monsters. I don't agree with this. But I'm just saying that this is kind of how the world looks at these two countries that they wreak havoc. And there is part of that. That's true. But, you know, Iran and speak Farsi, Yemeni speak Yemen. And for those of us who are Arabs, they are no way even close. They cannot understand each other. So that's, that's an important fact. And also, if you talk to Houthis or Assad a lot, they say no one dictates us. No one rules us. Iran is not our, you know, we're not their puppets. So I think it's kind of like ironic how we are, you know, following the lines of the corporate media, even though the Houthis themselves or Assad a lot themselves say that we do not follow their commands. So we don't hear, you know, anything about the coalition saying US backed Saudi coalition or US backed UAE coalition, right? So, you know, it's a play on words and we need to be careful to not consume that. Thank you, Jihan. This next question and maybe one more from Medea and then we'll move to our action portion or capital calling and emailing party. There was a question by Jim Carpenter posed by Jim Carpenter, a progressive Democrats of America asking what about Biden? You know, why has he gone back on his promise to defund US support for the Saudi war on Yemen? Now, particularly with him calling the prince and wanting oil as a result of sanction, you know, the closing off of the oil supplies from Russia, turning to Saudi Arabia, what's the likelihood of Biden going along with this kind of a war powers resolution? And I'll ask, you know, is that why you think maybe some members of Congress are hesitant to become co-sponsors, lead co-sponsors? Could I try to take this? Sure. Jihan, there's a great Malcolm X quote that kind of I think speaks to what you were just saying, no, you know, if you're not careful, you know, the media is going to have you believing that the victims are the oppressors and the oppressors are the victims. I don't know what I can't say it exactly right, but that was the gist of it. Yes, on, you know, the shameful position of Biden right now going hat in hand to other Petro States, authoritarian Petro States like Saudi Arabia is abhorrent, especially when the IPCC is saying that the world is on fire and getting worse, that we are going to see three plus Celsius degree rise by the end of the century. So now is not the time to be pumping more fossil fuels. I think if anything that this moment is truly a, you know, could be a transformational moment in the peace movement to, you know, bring in the climate change, you know, movement and sort of, you know, unite our coalitions because if there was ever a moment where we could see very clearly that our fates are tied, it's right now is that the war in Yemen has to do with the production of fossil fuels. Bernie is, has this great new bill trying to use the Defense Production Act to rapidly transition our country off of fossil fuels and onto renewable energies, the energy security and energy independence and security act or something like that. We're, we're supportive of that too, but I think that this is absolutely critical. I'll also just kind of point backwards a little bit. In 2018, you know, the Trump administration had said, you know, we're not actually going we're not even doing midair refueling of Saudi warplanes, then we passed the War Powers Act. And then we got them to basically admit, yes, we are midair refueling these, these war planes. And then Congress, they passed through one chamber, they didn't pass it through both chambers, it wasn't signed into law, but they got this through one chamber of Congress. And even before it passed, Trump actually pulled the plug on midair refueling for Saudi warplanes. And I just tell you this story, because sometimes just the process of pushing can make monumental changes. And then, you know, shortly after that, we saw the Hedai, the ceasefire. So I'm saying, don't give up hope. You know, even if it looks bleak, you know, just the act that we are out here making these phone calls, having these lobby visits, doing these coalition letters, doing, you know, doing this stuff, it's having a cumulative effect. Yes, some members might actually be upset, you know, that like, no, we don't want to cut off the Saudi-led coalition right now. But, you know, but at the same time, I do think we have momentum. Like I said, there's so many people lobbying on this around the country. Hundreds and hundreds of visits are happening already, national or coalitions out there. And I do think we have momentum on our side, especially with Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has now supported this. We got 219 representatives in the House, Republicans and Democrats, including Chairman Meeks, Adam Smith, you know, Leader Hoyer, you know, all supported. So we do have a lot going for us. So I, you know, despite the odds of, you know, the fact that we're trying to get Saudi to produce more oil, there's a lot of things cutting the other way that I think really help us. Wonderful. Well, Jihan put in a chat, the Malcolm X quote, if you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. So yes, it's a great quote. I have a last question and people had put in the chat questions about numbers of people who have been killed. And I think Jihan, you were answering that saying and showing it's of course hard to get numbers and there are people, the numbers of people who die directly from the bombing and then the numbers of people who die from the consequences of the war, which include things like malnutrition when you bomb the infrastructure and things like that. My question is about refugees because we see the massive refugee flow from Ukraine and people have talked about the different ways that refugees are treated. What is the refugee situation in Yemen? Is it that there are not a lot of them because they don't have somewhere to go outside of Yemen and is it more internally displaced people? Or can you clarify that a little and let's start with Jihan? Yeah, you know, there's one part of it where Yemenis would rather die in Yemen and that is just their home and they don't want to leave. But also obviously the airport is closed, they cannot go anywhere. The majority of people that are being pushed out of their homes due to airstrikes or different circumstances, they are IDPs, they're internally displaced people. And we are not seeing a lot of Yemenis leaving because of where can they go and also who will accept them in. So during the Muslim ban while the war was raging, and while there were some flights getting out of Yemen from Sayoun, which is very, very further southern part of Yemen, even those with actual visas couldn't leave to reunite with their families. So much less those who are fleeing war. It's really hard to get out of Yemen because of the blockade, because of airports being closed. It's just there isn't really a way out. It's not like the Saudis are going to welcome them in. Hassan, did you want to add anything to that? Yeah, no, Jihan hit the nail on the head. I would just say that we've seen like four million internally displaced people in the country. And many folks have fled several, several times because of Saudi airstrikes or because of fighting breaking out. So it's a horrible war, but a lot of it, you know, you don't have the same kind of refugee situation because of Saudi Arabia's border, which is heavily militarized and also a desert. You've also got the Omani border and then water completely around the country. And you know, it's not like the situation in Ukraine, where all of Eastern Europe is opening up their arms and there's massive humanitarian funding. The situation in Yemen is not like that at all, unfortunately. All right. Thank you so much, Hassan and Jihan. Please go ahead and put your contact information or whatever you want to say about, you know, how people can contact you in the chat. And let's all unmute and thank our guests. Wow, what a fantastic panel. But don't leave yet. We still have that.