Dina Mahmoud (London)
Members of the US Congress renewed their calls for the European Union to include the political and military wings of the terrorist “Hezbollah” militia on its blacklist of terrorist organizations.
And lawmakers who belong to both parties, Republican and Democratic, in the United States affirmed that there is no difference between the so-called political and military wings of the “party”, when it comes to its terrorist activities, stressing that “the time has come for the European Union to classify it as a terrorist organization.”
In a draft resolution presented by these Republican and Democratic members to Congress, US lawmakers stressed that Hezbollah continues to use Europe as a “base for its terrorist and criminal operations, which indicates the importance of the European Union changing its current policies, which suffice with imposing sanctions on its military wing.”
The bill is adopted by the two senators; Jackie Rosen (Democrat) and Marsha Blackburn (Republican), along with the two members of the House of Representatives; Brad Schneider (Democrat) and Gus Bilirakis (Republican). This move constitutes the latest episode in a campaign that Congress has been practicing against the European Union, for more than a decade, to classify the entire “party” as a terrorist organization, without being content with its military wing, as is the case at present.
For a long time, the United States has classified Hezbollah entirely on its list of terrorist organizations. As for the European Union, it included what is known as the military wing of the “party” on its terrorism list in 2013, amid increasing calls by European parliamentarians to expand this ban.
For her part, Senator Marsha Blackburn stressed that the European Union must deal with Hezbollah for what it is, as a “dangerous terrorist organization”, especially since it represents an “existential threat” to regional stability, noting in statements published by the “Jewish Insider” website, that all these militias are “linked to terrorism.”
Blackburn stressed that the designation of the “party” and all of its institutions as a terrorist by the European bloc will help prevent it from collecting funds in various European countries, to be used to finance its subversive activities, whether in the Middle East or abroad.
As for Representative Brad Schneider, he indicated that Hezbollah’s continued use of the European continent as a base for its terrorist, criminal and extremist actions comes despite the exclusion of its alleged “political wing” from the European Union’s blacklist.
The proposal of the bill calling for the European bloc to classify Hezbollah entirely as a terrorist came in conjunction with the eleventh anniversary of a terrorist attack carried out by the party in a Bulgarian tourist resort overlooking the Black Sea, which killed six people and wounded dozens.
And in March of this year, the Supreme Court in Bulgaria confirmed a life sentence issued three years ago against two Hezbollah members, who were convicted of providing explosives and logistical support to the perpetrator of that brutal operation that hit a tourist bus at the airport in 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.
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