Bipartisan Congressional letter urges EU to designate Hezbollah as terrorist organization

WASHINGTON – A large group of bipartisan lawmakers from both chambers of Congress sent a letter to the Delegation of the European Union to the United States on Friday, urging the EU to designate the entirety of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) led the letter in the Senate, and Representatives Lee Zeldin (R-NY) and Ted Deutch (D-FL) spearheaded the effort in the House. Twenty-six additional members of both chambers joined the letter, including senior senators such as Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ben Cardin (D-MD).

“The United States remains dedicated to combating global terrorism and its enablers, and we encourage our allies and partners to join in this effort. To build on these efforts, we strongly urge the EU to designate the entirety of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization,” the letter reads.

The lawmakers commended Germany’s April 30 designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, and Austria’s efforts with a similar proposed resolution.

“In addition to the United States, Canada, the Gulf Cooperation

Council, and the Arab League, as well as several other individual countries, have taken this step,” they wrote. “We also continue to welcome action by individual member states to enact a formal terror designation of Hezbollah in its entirety and ban its activities within their borders.” they wrote.

The congressmen added that “Unfortunately, Hezbollah has increasingly used Europe as a launching pad for its criminal and terrorist activities, including money laundering, drug smuggling, recruitment, and training. In particular, Hezbollah’s fundraising and illicit business activities have generated additional annual revenue which the organization uses to support its global terrorism, including a 2012 Hezbollah terror attack in Bulgaria that killed 5 Israeli tourists and 1 Bulgarian citizen.”