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On November 19, military forces affiliated with…Houthi group In Yemen, a commercial ship owned by an Israeli businessman called “Galaxy Leader” was detained, following the repercussions of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, and the violations and genocide operations the Palestinian people were subjected to there by the Israeli occupation. A leader of the group said, “Our embarkation on the ship is in support of our oppressed people in Gaza.”
For its part, the Israeli army said that the hijacking of the cargo ship by the Houthis near Yemen, south of the Red Sea, “is a very dangerous event globally,” explaining that “the hijacked ship left Turkey on its way to India with an international civilian crew and no Israelis, and it is not Israeli.”
This step is one of the signs of the new reality imposed by the operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” Launched by the Palestinian resistance led by Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (The military wing of the movement agitation) On the seventh of last October, the ship’s seizure came in implementation of a previous threat by the Houthi group, that it would seize any ships belonging to Israel, and warned other countries against dealing with Israeli ships.
This will put the process of international trade passing through the waters overlooked by Yemen before a new equation related to the cost and security of trade operations.
The event raises several issues that have political and economic implications, and these lines are concerned with the economic and commercial repercussions.
Before we point out these repercussions related to the event, we will discuss some data on Israel’s trade, and what is related to transport by sea.
The Israeli naval fleet
The World Bank database indicates that Israel’s merchandise trade represents 34.6% of its domestic product according to 2022 data, urging gross domestic product For Israel in the same year, according to the same source, $522 billion.
World Bank data also indicate that Israeli merchandise exports in 2022 amounted to about $73.8 billion, and that its merchandise imports amounted to $107.2 billion. This means that Israel’s trade balance shows a deficit of $33.7 billion.
As for the Central Bureau of Statistics in Israel, it indicates in its report titled “Israel in Numbers 2022” that in 2022, Israeli ports unloaded goods with a tonnage of 40.6 million tons, and that they carried goods abroad with a tonnage of 18.2 million tons.
As for individuals who passed through Israel’s commercial ports, they were estimated at approximately 378,000 passengers in 2022. This may cause Israel to lose an important part of its share in transporting individuals by sea, whether for the purpose of trade or tourism.
Israel’s maritime trade does not only take place through its ships, but may also take place through ships owned by other countries or companies.
Economic repercussions of the event
There is a new map with different terrains, including the commercial and economic terrain of the Middle East region, and even the world after the Al-Aqsa flood. Israel’s commercial relations are with the countries of the Middle East region with which it has peace agreements, or normal commercial activity (Turkey, the Emirates, Egypt, Morocco, and Bahrain ) is vulnerable to decline in the coming period, due to the negative repercussions left by the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
Among these repercussions was the Houthi seizure of the Galaxy Leader ship.
According to special figures from a press release by the Central Bank of Israel issued last March, it was found that the value of Israel’s merchandise trade with those countries by the end of 2022 amounted to approximately $11.3 billion, of which $8.2 billion were Israel’s imports from those countries, and $3.17 billion were merchandise exports from Israel to those countries.
Israel’s imports from these countries represent 7.7% of its total imports, and its merchandise exports to those countries represent 4.4% of its total exports.
It is indicated that Bab al-Mandab Strait Which is supervised by Yemen, and through which 10% of international maritime trade passes annually through the passage of about 21 thousand ships. 6 million barrels of oil pass through it daily.
The Houthi threat to ships dealing with Israel, which pass through Bab al-Mandab, would affect its trade with the East, especially with Asia.
There will be a high cost for the operation of Israeli ships passing through waters near Yemen during the coming period, either due to the risks of their detention, or the rise in insurance fees on them, which means an increase in the cost of operating these ships and an increase in the wages they receive either from Israeli companies or By third parties who agree to deal with companies or individuals who own Israeli ships.
If risks continue in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and sea trade and Israeli ships are exposed to the risks of detention, the alternative may be air or land transportation, which means higher costs, which will reflect negatively on Israel’s foreign trade.
Targeting Israeli investments
The seizure of the Israeli ship by the Houthi group may encourage other resistance groups to undermine Israeli investments, whether those investments are purely Israeli or joint.
After the ship incident, many companies that have trade that passes through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, or from areas close to resistance factions, may be forced to avoid dealing with Israeli ships, which means preventing the passage of Israeli ships and losing their share of the transportation trade.
In conclusion, what happened when the Houthi group seized the Israeli ship was a qualitative shift in its commercial and economic context, especially with regard to Israel’s losses and the possibility of its inability to protect its commercial and economic interests in the regional and international environment.
