BICOM

The European Union’s (EU) delegation to Israel yesterday released a statement to clarify that the issue of whether to place the military wing of Hezbollah on its’ list of terrorist organisations is still very much under discussion.

The UK, which currently classifies Hezbollah’s military arm as a terrorist entity, is leading a push for the EU to adopt the same classification. It is thought that an EU-wide ban would likely seriously hamper Hezbollah’s financial and logistical capability. However, it had been suggested that there is significant opposition to this from various EU member states, effectively ending the UK initiative.

Clarifying the situation, the EU delegation to Israel said yesterday, “Reports have appeared in recent days in the Israeli media suggesting that the European Union took a decision earlier this month not to list Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. These reports are not founded on fact. No such decision has been taken.” The statement continued, “Discussions are continuing between the EU member states on the issue of listing Hezbollah. Any decision requires the unanimous support of all EU member states.”

The UK request to proscribe Hezbollah cited two incidents of the organisation’s terror activity on EU soil. A Bulgarian investigation earlier this year found Hezbollah responsible for a bus bomb in the Bulgarian resort of Burgas, which killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver last July. Meanwhile, in March a Cypriot court convicted a Hezbollah operative with dual Swedish-Lebanese nationality of helping plan an attack on Israeli tourists on the island.

Speaking in Poland yesterday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the EU to blacklist Hezbollah, saying “If Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization, I don’t know what a terrorist organization is, but it’s not just an Israeli problem. Hezbollah has murdered innocent civilians on European soil. And Europe cannot, must not, be indifferent to this.”