Horrific images of starving children are emerging from Yemen, echoing the Ethiopian famine that galvanized world attention during the 1984 Christmas season. They are finally shining a light on what is being recognized as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

But Yemen has yet to inspire a similar global outcry and mobilization, reflected in the charity supergroup Band Aid and its song, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Perhaps our ambivalence has something to do with our involvement in Yemen’s civil war.