Britain banned Hezbollah’s military wing in 2008 because the Lebanese militia attacked UK soldiers in Iraq.
By Benjamin Weinthal
The United Kingdom’s Home Secretary Sajid Javid will designate the
entire Lebanese organization Hezbollah as a terrorist movement at next
week’s Conservative Party conference.
London-based The Jewish Chronicle first reported Javid’s anti-Hezbollah
terror classification on Thursday.The EU proscribed Hezbollah’s
so-called military wing a terrorist organization in 2013. The terror
classification arose because Hezbollah operatives blew up an Israeli
tour bus in Bulgaria in 2012, murdering five Israelis and their Muslim
Bulgarian bus driver. The terror act resulted in injuries to 32
Israelis.Britain banned Hezbollah’s military wing in 2008 because the
Lebanese militia attacked UK soldiers in Iraq. However, the United
Kingdom allows Hezbollah’s political wing to operate.
The United States, Canada, the Arab League, the Netherlands and Israel
consider Hezbollah to be a unified terrorist entity without separate
military and political wings.
According to The Jewish Chronicle, Javid “will use his speech at next
week’s Conservative Party annual conference to announce the move, which
has long been called for by the Jewish community and others concerned
with terrorism.”
The Chronicle wrote, “Mr. Javid – who is a staunch ally of the Jewish
community – has seized on the Home Office assessments, which say
Hezbollah ‘is committed to armed resistance to the state of Israel and
aims to seize all Palestinian territories and Jerusalem from Israel,’”
and “its military wing supports terrorism in Iraq and the Palestinian
territories.”Furthermore, the newspaper reported, “Mr. Javid is
understood to have received strong backing for his decision to certify
Hezbollah as an illegal terrorist organization from new Foreign
Secretary Jeremy Hunt.”
Hunt, according to the Chronicle, labeled Hezbollah an “outrageous,
disgusting” organization and sought to outlaw the entire Lebanese
Shi’ite organization since former foreign secretary Boris Johnson
departed his post.
Hezbollah is already considered a terror group by the US, Canada, Israel
and the Arab League. The Iran-backed Shi’ite group Hezbollah has played
a key role in keeping Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in power.
If Javid delivers and proscribes all of Hezbollah a terrorist
organization, the ban will stand in sharp contrast to Labour Party
leader Jeremy Corbyn’s praise for Hezbollah as “friends.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has steadfastly refused to
outlaw all of Hezbollah. German intelligence agencies say there are 950
Hezbollah members in the federal republic who raise funds and recruit
new members.
Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, has experienced a
growth of Hezbollah members. According to the state’s 2017 intelligence
report, the number of Hezbollah members increased from 100 in 2015, to
105 in 2016. Armin Laschet, the governor of the state, has declined to
take measures to close down Hezbollah activity in his state.
“Israel is the enemy – we carry out resistance,” said in 2017 Hassan
Jawad, chairman of the Hezbollah-affiliated imam Mahdi center in the
city of Münster in North Rhine-Westphalia.
On the other side of the Atlantic, US Representative Bill Pascrell Jr., a
Democrat from New Jersey, praised the passage of anti-Hezbollah
legislation, named the Hizballah International Financing Prevention
Amendments Act of 2018.
According to a statement from Pascrell’s office, “The bill will target
with corrective sanctions foreign governments that provide support to
the Iran-backed terror organization.”
Pascrell co-sponsored the companion House legislation.
“Any day Congress can take action to weaken Hezbollah’s ability to
spread terror and threaten our ally Israel is a good day,” said
Pascrell. “Through the support of Iranian hardliners and other bad
actors, Hezbollah has been allowed to build its sinister capacity and
raise the specter of harm against our allies throughout the Middle East.
This legislation will help impose real consequences on Hezbollah and
its accomplices. Any foreign governments or groups that seek to aid
Hezbollah with arms or financial support will be subject to crippling
economic sanctions. We must do more to more to take apart Hezbollah so
that it and its supporters in Iran can no longer threaten Israeli,
American, or world security.”
Pascrell, a strong advocate of Israel’s security, has a long record of
sponsoring and passing legislation targeting Iran’s ballistic missile
system, and urging the EU to designate Hezbollah a terrorist
organization.
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