U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch (D-FL), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Kathy Manning (D-NC), and Peter Meijer (R-MI) introduced Monday a resolution designed to encourage the European Union’s (EU) full designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
The EU solely includes Hezbollah’s military wing – separate from its political wing – on its sanctioned terrorist organizations list. Additionally, the legislators indicated domestically there is no distinction between the branches and includes Hezbollah in the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization list in its entirety.
“When you are dealing with a ruthless terrorist organization like Hezbollah, there is no distinction between political and militant wings,” Deutch said. “I’m pleased that many European countries took action to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization, as the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council have also done. But we need the European Union to cease allowing Hezbollah’s so-called political wing to freely operate by joining us in fully targeting this terrorist group and its global criminal network.”
Bilirakis said it is critical for the EU to designate the entire Hezbollah regime as a terrorist organization.
“This designation will make it more difficult for Hezbollah to raise money to fund its terrorist activities around the globe,” he said. “Additionally, it will hopefully weaken the organization’s support and eventually render it obsolete. As we seek to secure a future free of terrorism, the EU and United States must stand strongly united against those who wish to threaten our way of life and foster chaos. Taking this important action is a major step toward achieving that moral imperative.”