Members of the US Congress have renewed their calls for the European Union to list both the political and military wings of the Hezbollah militia as terrorist organizations. Legislators from both the Republican and Democratic parties in the United States stressed that there is no difference between the so-called political and military wings of Hezbollah when it comes to its terrorist activities, insisting that “it’s time for the European Union to fully classify it as a terrorist organization”.
In a proposed resolution put forth by these Republican and Democratic members before Congress, American lawmakers emphasized that Hezbollah continues to use Europe as a “base for its terrorist and criminal operations,” which highlights the need for the European Union to change its current policies, which only impose sanctions on its military wing.
The proposal is endorsed by Senate members Jackie Rosen (Democrat) and Marsha Blackburn (Republican), alongside House representatives Brad Schneider (Democrat) and Gus Bilirakis (Republican). This move marks the latest step in a campaign waged by Congress against the European Union for more than a decade, aiming to fully classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, without limiting the designation to its military wing, as is currently the case.
The United States has long designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. On the other hand, the European Union only listed what is known as the military wing of Hezbollah on its terror list in 2013, amidst growing calls from European MPs to expand this ban.
Senator Marsha Blackburn stressed that the European Union needs to deal with Hezbollah as it is, a “serious terrorist organization,” especially as it poses an “existential threat” to regional stability. In statements published on the ‘Jewish Insider’ website, she noted that these militias in their entirety are “associated with terrorism”.
Blackburn emphasized that classifying Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in its entirety by the European Union would help prevent it from raising funds in various European countries, which it uses to finance its destructive activities, both in the Middle East and beyond.
Representative Brad Schneider pointed out that Hezbollah’s continued use of the European continent as a base for its terrorist, criminal, and extremist activities, comes despite the exclusion of what is allegedly its “political wing” from the European Union’s blacklist.
The proposal to demand that the European Union fully designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization coincides with the eleventh anniversary of a terrorist attack carried out by Hezbollah at a tourist resort in Bulgaria overlooking the Black Sea, which killed six people and injured dozens.
In March of this year, the Supreme Court in Bulgaria upheld a sentence issued three years ago for life imprisonment for two members of Hezbollah, convicted of providing explosives and logistical support for the executor of the horrific operation that hit a tourist bus at the airport of the coastal city of Burgas. However, the two convicts in this case, who were tried in absentia, are still fugitives from justice, having fled from Bulgaria after the suicide bombing.
