EU puts Hezbollah on terror list
EU puts Hezbollah on terror list | The Times of Israel.
( “This comes one week after the EU declared the sky to be blue. Agreement has yet to be reached on the issue of the world being round.” – JW )
Council of foreign ministers declares military wing of Lebanese Islamist group a terrorist organization
The European Union declared Monday that the military wing of Lebanese political party Hezbollah was a terrorist organization, which could have far-reaching implications for European-Lebanese relations.
A council of EU foreign ministers reached the decision at their monthly meeting Monday. Putting the organization on the terrorist blacklist was decided by a unanimous vote from the EU’s 28 foreign ministers, a French diplomat said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Hezbollah was expected to issue a statement Monday afternoon. The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union was expected to hold a press conference later in the day.
Ahead of the vote, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that “the great majority” of the EU member states supported the plan, and hoped for the necessary unanimity.
The EU has long avoided a vote to declare Hezbollah’s military wing a terrorist organization, despite US pressure, for fear that such a move would destabilize Lebanon and its neighbors.
“It is good that the EU has decided to call Hezbollah what it is: a terrorist organization,” Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said after the decision.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni welcomed the EU decree. “Finally, after years of discussions and deliberations, [they] have failed, and rightly so, in their attempt to claim that they are a legitimate political party,” she said.
Now the world knows that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, added Livni, a former foreign minister. The “just and correct decision” shows that even if Hezbollah also functions as a political party, it can’t launder its terrorist activities behind that, she said.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin praised the decision and told Israel Radio that the vote was the result of many years of work by the Foreign Ministry.
Observers said there had been a steady change of heart within the EU, particularly in Germany, which has in the past resisted calls to list the Islamist group.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said before the vote that evidence from last year’s attack in the Black Sea resort of Burgas in Bulgaria, which killed five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian, should provide enough impetus for the move. Westerwelle said that “we have to answer this, and the answer is” blacklisting Hezbollah’s military wing.
Belgium’s Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, right, talks with Italy’s Foreign Minister Emma Bonino, during the EU foreign ministers meeting, at the European Council building in Brussels on Monday. (photo credit: AP/Yves Logghe)
The attack on EU territory plus a Cyprus criminal court decision in March finding a Hezbollah member guilty of helping to plan attacks on Israelis on the Mediterranean island has galvanized EU diplomacy in moving toward action.
“We should name names because time comes to tell the truth,” said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Antanas Linkevicius, who chaired Monday’s meeting. “What was done by the military wing in the region and elsewhere I would say, there should be some reaction.”
In February, an official Bulgarian report said investigators had “well-grounded reasons” to suggest that two men suspected in the attack belonged to the militant wing of Hezbollah, and on Wednesday, Bulgaria’s prime minister said that new evidence has bolstered its case implicating Hezbollah in the deadly bombing, which targeted a group of Israeli tourists arriving at the Burgas airport.
Hezbollah has denied involvement in the Burgas attack.
On Thursday, Lebanon said that it would formally request that the EU not name Hezbollah a terrorist organization. A statement released by President Michel Suleiman’s office said Hezbollah is a “main component of Lebanese society.”
The Iranian-backed group plays a pivotal role in Lebanese politics, dominating the government since 2011, and has since sent its members to bolster Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces in their assault of rebel-held areas.
While some EU officials have said that a decision to blacklist Hezbollah’s military wing would be solely based on concerns over terrorism on European soil, several EU nations also have pointed to Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria as a reason for the move.
The blacklisting means imposing visa bans on individuals and asset freezes on organizations associated with the group. But the implementation will be complicated since officials will have to unravel the links between the different wings within Hezbollah’s organizational network and see who could be targeted for belonging to the military wing.
Hague said that blacklisting Hezbollah’s military wing would not “destabilize Lebanon or have serious adverse consequences.”
“It is important for us to show that we are united and strong in facing terrorism,” Hague said.
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WarSclerotic 
July 22, 2013 at 1:57 PM
Europe is full of Helen Thomases, JW. They have to be overpowered before Europe can move and see clearly what the real threat is in the middle east.
Many still see Israel’s existence as the problem and its removal (the ‘apartheid state’ of illigitimate Jewish occupiers) as the solution and resolution to islamic animosity and militancy against the west.
Ignorance and bigotry (remember the awesome power of STUPID) is a force of nature that has to be overcome.
Is there any hope of doing just that?
July 22, 2013 at 7:29 PM
Is there a state in the world that is besieging another people?? and killing them everyday with or without pretext?? and aren’t those settlers occupying the Land of others?? or you think they just landed in a no mans land and they claimed it theirs?? you are right a lot of europeans are still stupid… they are blinded by the media
July 22, 2013 at 9:34 PM
To answer your rhetorical question.
There is a state that attacked another sovereign state.
This state ethnically cleansed the occupied land, desecrated the places of worship and confiscated all the property of the people who where driven out.
In the process of this ethnic cleansing rapes, killings and warcrimes had been comitted.
The occupying country then imported settlers from its homeland giving them financial incentives and support to change the demograpics in their favour.
Since then the attacked country is still occupied.
The UN has declared this occupation illegal and has called for an end of it.
The occupiers have declared the occupied land a sovereign state.
No country in the world with the exception of the occupying country has recognized this state.
I give you this hint: The occupied country is an EU-member state.
Now, before you accuse Europeans of being stupid, answer this question: What is the name of the occupied country?
If you can’t answer the question you show your own stupidity.
I doubt that you even are an European.
As an European I would be indeed stupid if I would not care first and foremost about an ACTUALLY ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED European country before I care about an ALLEGEDLY ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED country or about ALLEGED CRIMES in some country of the Middle East.
Either you are totally uninformed, stupid, a moron or an idiot.
Which is it?
July 23, 2013 at 1:29 AM
i know who you are you may as well post your whole name tony,you might get treated as the person you are people may even understand the context your talking in,
July 22, 2013 at 8:45 PM
Tony just proved your point 100%.
H just demonstrated the awesome power of STUPID.
July 23, 2013 at 1:31 AM
i have been to see you talk tony
July 23, 2013 at 12:23 AM
Ok Tony, got it. You are stupid.
You are increasingly embarrasing yourself.
I know, I know. I understand that you think they are useless because you can’t comprehend anything that’s more than 3 lines.
Because you seem to be a legasthenic don’t expect me to be the same.
I’ve answered your question comprehensively and shown what silly drivel you are spouting here.
July 23, 2013 at 12:56 AM
Dude, I’ve answered your question.
When asking questions, expect answers you don’t like.
Your question was:
“is there a state in the world that is besieging another people?? and killing them everyday with or without pretext?? and aren’t those settlers occupying the Land of others??”
Ive given you the answer.
You are accusing Europeans of being stupid because they don’t follow your idiotic narrative.
The only thing I’ve left out was the actual name of the country to see if you are smarter then those supposedly stupid Europeans.
You’ve shown that you are actually the stupid one.
Cyprus (an EU-member state) was invaded by Turkey in 1974.
Since then Turkey illegally occupies northern Cyprus.
It is stupid to expect us Europeans to care more about some allegedly illegaly occupied land in the Middle East than about one of our own lands.
You have also shown nothing to back up your ridiculous allegations. How about some facts and actual data?
How many of those poor people are killed every year?
Give us some numbers. The problem is: You can’t because your claims are completely bogous.
That’s all for today. I don’t want to waste my time.
July 23, 2013 at 2:28 AM
A vault of info
http://www.middleeastpiece.com/
Hat tip to
A Dutch quality blog
July 23, 2013 at 2:51 PM
OK, Tony.
I haven’t banned you because you have avoided actual “hate speech.” However, I understand the anger your comments have generated here.
Either you are being a “troll” or you simply don’t get the fact that our lives, our families’ lives and our nation’s existence are at stake in these issues.
I encourage all opinions to be expressed. Many wanted me to ban an obvious IRG shill posting under the moniker “renbe.” I declined to do so for two reasons.
1. His posts made clear the positions being taken by the other side.
2. His posts never included racial slurs or other forms of hate speech.
Your position is more tenuous because it isn’t informative of the Iranian position. While you have avoided hate speech, you continue to post comments that many here find objectionable. While you claim not to be antisemitic, your positions are too reminiscent of the standard “Veterans Today” type calumnies.
I caution you therefore, to show more sensitivity to the others here. If you don’t, I’ll have to ban you not as an anti-Semite, but as a troll.
Stay on topic; the Iran/Israel war and there should be no problem.
To the others, I ask that you contain your anger. It’s only words on the screen that have no power beyond their truth or lack of it.
July 23, 2013 at 9:26 AM
I have a proposition for the good people here: every time that a ”new comer” ”tony” is spilling here his anti Israeli propaganda or its trying to camouflage his anti Semitic sentiments, just ignore him and don’t relate to his ”thoughts”. Let Mr. Wouk take care of this problem, which is starting to infest this honorable forum, and let ”tony” to do
his ”work” on KKK web sites, his home.
July 23, 2013 at 9:47 AM
tony who ?
July 23, 2013 at 9:49 AM
Exactly.
July 23, 2013 at 7:53 PM
we think its this guy,he has a strange view of the world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Benn
July 23, 2013 at 10:00 AM
Webmaster,
Just give this “Tony” a ban!!
July 23, 2013 at 11:08 AM
I have a strange feeling that i know you E.J. Bron
met before ??
Nice to see you here
July 23, 2013 at 10:01 AM
Oh, by the way, I am the webmaster from this blog:
July 23, 2013 at 4:09 PM
I,am flexing the muscles near both ends of my mouth
July 23, 2013 at 3:30 PM
To Mr. Wouk : ” It’s only words on the screen that have no power beyond their truth or lack of it.” Words can sometimes kill, especially when they are connected to a certain type of propaganda.
July 23, 2013 at 4:19 PM
Agreed.
Let me know when that becomes an issue here in your estimation.
July 23, 2013 at 6:51 PM
Tony…
Please acknowledge my last comment to you. I need to know that you read it.
JW
July 23, 2013 at 7:46 PM
i know who he is he is someone who is a prominent Marxist socialist i think i have seen him talk as some of the things he posted on here he said i n a debate, i think he should come clean as if it is he is quite respected in some circles if your raving Marxist commie and thers only one thing i hate more than commies its iran or we should all turn on him can i be evil with him JW