It has been more than two months since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict broke out on 7 October. In this process, with the exception of Iran and its factions, which have supported Hamas, many Arab countries, even if they are also Arab brothers, have only condemned and exerted pressure, but have not taken substantive action.
Interestingly, the Arab brothers did not dare to make a move, and Malaysia, another big country, stepped forward and fired the first shot at Israel. Recently, Malaysian Prime Minister Anvaldo announced that he will no longer accept Israeli shipping company ships and Israeli-flagged ships to dock at Malaysian ports, and will not allow ships to Israel to load goods at Malaysian ports.
In addition to this, Anwar also asked the relevant authorities to impose a "permanent ban" on the Israeli shipping company ZIM. Under the circumstance that Israel is rampant and domineering and no one pays attention to it, Malaysia's approach is tough enough, and it is completely hardening Israel** and supporting the Palestinian people with practical actions.
In this regard, we have reason to believe that Malaysia was the first country to impose a ban on Israel, but definitely not the last. Because Malaysia is an Islamic power and has significant influence in the Islamic world, its actions are bound to affect other Islamic countries, and then have a series of chain reactions.
In fact, Israel's current crisis is far beyond Malaysia, and the expansion of Yemen's Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea has put Israel under significant economic and international pressure. The Red Sea is the only way to connect to the Suez Canal, and if merchant ships do not go through the Suez Canal to enter the Mediterranean, they have to go around Africa and then enter the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar.
Anyone with a discerning eye knows that if you choose to take the Suez Canal, the shipping company will have to pay much less time and cost, and on the contrary, you will bear high transportation costs. However, as the Houthis have expanded their attacks, those international shipping companies have been forced to announce the suspension of the Red Sea shipping lanes and detours from Africa. Therefore, the Houthi approach not only strikes at Israel's "economic lifeline", but also grasps the "seven inches" of the Western world.
At least in the field of foreign affairs, the Houthis have already left Israel and the Western world anxious, and cannot effectively prevent the crisis from escalating. Of course, the Western world has not done nothing, and the United States, for example, has announced the formation of a 10-nation coalition to carry out the "Red Sea escort" operation. However, as for the actions of the United States, frankly, I am not optimistic.
Let's not talk about whether the other participating countries will do their best to escort the escort, and it will be difficult for the United States to solve the problem if it says one thing alone. The Houthis' goal is not to crush the 10-nation coalition, but to attack ships heading for Israel as much as possible, so there is no need to go head-to-head with the 10-nation coalition. If you can fight it, you can fight it, and if you can't fight it, you can leave, and from time to time a few ballistic missiles or saturation drone attacks will be launched, what does this make the 10-nation coalition do?
Unless the United States is willing to send troops to destroy the Houthis, it will be tantamount to falling back into the quagmire of war in the Middle East, which is something that the United States has been trying to avoid. Therefore, the so-called "Red Sea escort" operation of the United States is likely to be anticlimactic. Then again, the intensification of the crisis in Israel has done China a great favor.
As we all know, the current world's most important mode of transport is still shipping, so through the Israeli crisis, on the contrary, countries can see the disadvantages of shipping, as long as the country that occupies a strategic position or the armed jam of the key shipping lanes, it can lead to a significant impact on global shipping, which has a far-reaching impact on the relevant countries.
Therefore, I think that after the leaders of many countries see the shortcomings, the importance of land transportation will be raised, and land transportation will rise again. And the development of road transportation, put it geopolitically, is to deal a blow to the US maritime hegemony system. For China, which has always opposed US hegemony, it is tantamount to doing nothing and gaining more benefits and bargaining chips out of thin air.