Biden’s hyped announcement that the administration would designate the Houthi Jihadists as terrorists was already as hollow as his airstrikes in Yemen for reasons that I pointed out earlier.

When Biden decided to take the Houthis off the Foreign Terrorist Organization list, he helped pave the way for the current Red Sea crisis. And even now, rather than putting the Houthis back on the FTO list, he’s moving them to the specially designated global terrorist list which does not make it illegal to provide material support by funding them and lacks a serious travel ban.

But somehow the news gets even worse.

Here’s the official State Department announcement.

Since November, the Houthis have launched unprecedented attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, as well as military forces positioned in the area to defend the safety and security of commercial shipping.  These attacks against international shipping have endangered mariners, disrupted the free flow of commerce, and interfered with navigational rights and freedoms.  This designation seeks to promote accountability for the group’s terrorist activities.  If the Houthis cease their attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the United States will reevaluate this designation.

Nothing terrifies terrorists as much as when you beg them to stop and promise to take off the terrorist designation if they would just stop.

Not that the Houthis have much to worry about because first there will be a 30 day waiting period during which the pro-terror lefties will conspire to inject every loophole into it that they can manage.

The Houthis must be held accountable for their actions, but it should not be at the expense of Yemeni civilians.  As the Department of State moves forward with this designation, we are taking significant steps to mitigate any adverse impacts this designation may have on the people of Yemen.  During the 30-day implementation delay, the U.S. government will conduct robust outreach to stakeholders, aid providers, and partners who are crucial to facilitating humanitarian assistance and the commercial import of critical commodities in Yemen.  The Department of the Treasury is also publishing licenses authorizing certain transactions related to the provision of food, medicine, and fuel, as well as personal remittances, telecommunications and mail, and port and airport operations on which the Yemeni people rely.

Those same licenses were issued authorizing transactions with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Hamas in Gaza. This is how terrorism gets funded.

So the Houthis will be fine. Even assuming these sanctions ever take effect.

The Biden administration has boldly imposed some possible future sanctions in 30 days to end a terror threat happening now.

The designation will possibly kick in on Feb 16 which gives the Houthis plenty of time to pull any assets they have in our financial institutions and prepare for them.

Biden is really making Carter look tough.