The Houthi rebels of Yemenwhich are backed by Iran and are disrupting global shipping to show their support for the Palestinians in Gaza, have announced that they are offering places to students expelled from US universities for organizing anti-Israel demonstrations.

Students have demonstrated or set up camps on dozens of US campuses in recent days to protest Israel’s war on Gaza, now in its seventh month. They are asking the American president Joe Biden to do more to stop the bloodshed in Gaza and for their schools not to do business with companies that support the Israeli government. Many schools, including New York’s Columbia University, called in the police to quell the protests.

“We are serious about welcoming students who have been barred from American universities for supporting the Palestinians,” said an official from Sanaa. “We are fighting this battle for Palestine in every way we can,” he added.

Sana’a University issued a statement applauding the “humanitarian” stance of the students in the US and said they could continue their studies in Yemen. “The board condemns what professors and students in American and European universities have suffered, the suppression of freedom of expression,” he added, giving an email address to which those who wish to take advantage of the Houthi offer can contact.

The US and Britain This year they reinstated the Houthis on the list of terrorist organizations after the rebels launched attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis’ offer to the American students sparked a wave of sarcasm from ordinary Yemenis on social networking sites. One user posted the photo of two Westerners chewing leaves of the widely used drug khat. He wrote in the caption that they are “American students in their fifth year at the University of Sana’a.”