US envoy to EU: Classify Hezbollah as terrorist group

The US government’s most important European ambassador on Wednesday urged the EU to designate the entire Hezbollah movement a terrorist entity.

Writing an opinion article for Politico, US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell said, “The European Union should follow the German parliament’s lead and recognize Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization.”

Grenell told The Jerusalem Post: “I am hopeful that there will be a draft European Parliament resolution calling for the ban of Hezbollah. The German government’s action on the issue has been a huge step forward in Europe.”

The US Embassy tweeted on Wednesday about Grenell’s meeting with members of the European parliament: “Today we met with David McAllister and several other German members of the @Europarl_EN [European Parliament] to strategize how Europe can take action to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization.”

Grenell noted in a Politico article: “In one of its last acts of 2019, the German parliament called on the government to ban Hezbollah. Recent developments show the government is ready to act, using available legal tools to deny the Iranian terror proxy the ability to plan, recruit and raise funds on German soil.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration has not proscribed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. The Post has previously reported, based on intelligence reports, that 1,050 Hezbollah members and supporters operate within German territory. The Hezbollah operatives raise funds, recruit new members and spread antisemitic and terrorist ideologies.

Grenell said Hezbollah “flouts the rule of law, raising hundreds of millions of dollars in financing per year through criminal networks and transnational money laundering schemes originating in or transiting Europe. An EU-wide designation of Hezbollah is necessary to deny it the vast European recruiting and fund-raising networks it needs to survive.”

Grenell wrote that the Bundestag’s moves “come[s] in the wake of continued paralysis in Brussels, where some member countries still argue for Hezbollah’s legitimacy due to its political role in Lebanon. The EU thus maintains an artificial distinction between Hezbollah’s ‘political wing’ and ‘military wing,’ a division the terror group itself does not recognize. The EU’s stated intent for creating this false distinction is to preserve an open channel with Hezbollah and its representatives in the Lebanese government.”

The ambassador added: “The facts belie the EU’s stance. Hezbollah works for the Iranian regime, not the Lebanese people, who have protested against Iran’s influence in their country since October. It contributes to the 400,000-plus death toll in Syria, and remains dedicated to the extermination of Israel. It has planned and executed terrorist attacks on European soil. “