Hamas removed from EU terrorist list on technicality
Hamas removed from EU terrorist list on technicality
European Union General Court annuls decision to keep Hamas on list of terrorist organizations, but temporarily maintained measures against it for three months or until an appeal was closed.
Reuters, AP Published: 12.17.14, 11:14 / Israel News
via Hamas removed from EU terrorist list on technicality – Israel News, Ynetnews.
The European Union’s second highest court annulled on Wednesday the bloc’s decision to keep Hamas on a list of terrorist organizations, but temporarily maintained the measures for a period of three months or until an appeal was closed.
The General Court of the European Union said the contested measures were not based on an examination of Hamas’s “acts examined and confirmed in decisions of competent authorities” but on imputations derived from the media and the Internet.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swiftly called on Europe to maintain the ban. “We expect them to immediately put Hamas back on the
list,” he said in a statement from Jerusalem, denouncing Hamas as “a murderous terrorist organization”.
The EU court did not consider the merits of whether Hamas should be classified as a terror group, but reviewed the original decision-making process. This, it said, did not include the considered opinion of competent authorities, but rather relied on press and Internet reports.
“The court stresses that those annulments, on fundamental procedural grounds, do not imply any substantive assessment of the question of the classification of Hamas as a terrorist group,” the court said in a statement.
It therefore ruled that the asset freezes should stay in place for three months, pending further EU actions, in order to ensure that any possible future freezing of funds would be effective.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (Photo: AFP)
The court’s decision followed an appeal filed by Hamas against its inclusion in the European Union’s blacklist.
The EU is considering its next steps. It has two months to appeal.
The terrorist list designation bars EU officials from dealing with the group, and requires that any of the group’s funds in EU countries be frozen.
Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq welcomed the decision. “This is the correction of an error and an injustice that was caused to Hamas, which is a national liberation movement.”
Salah Bardawil, another Hamas official, called the decision a “strong, good shift” that he said would ultimately lead to European action against Israel.
“This decision corrects a great mistake committed against the Palestinian resistance that had Hamas connected to terror,” he said.
The lawyer for Hamas, Liliane Glock, told AFP she was “satisfied with the decision.”
Although Hamas presented the decision as a victory, Israel and the EU say that the change will not have an effect on the group’s position as a terror group in Europe as the court will be given a few months to rebuild the file against Hamas with evidence that will enable the Gaza-based group to remain on the list of terror organizations.
Hamas rally in Gaza (Photo: Reuters)
Hamas’s military wing was added to the European Union’s first-ever terrorism blacklist drawn up in December 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Hamas’s political wing was added to the EU’s list of terror organizations in 2003 after a diplomatic effort led by Israel and the US.
A few months ago, the Court of Justice made a decision to remove the Tamil Tigers, a Sri Lankan terror group, from the EU’s terrorist list because of similar reasoning. The court concluded that the file did not have sufficient legal evidence proving the group was a terror organization. However, as is expected in the case of Hamas, the court gave the EU a window of time to re-submit its request and build a stronger legal file against the Sri Lankan group.
Hamas, aware of the case of the Sri Lankan group, saw an opportunity to remove itself from the EU’s terror list which prevents all European nations from contacting the organization. Hamas appealed to the court on the same grounds as the Sri Lankan group.
Hamas rally in Gaza (Photo: Reuters)
According to reports from within Israel, some European countries, fearing the possiblity that Hamas would be taken of the EU’s terror list, have already begun collecting intelligence information that could be useful in building a strong case against the group.
Israel, on its part, has a department dedicated to the issue within the Foreign Ministry and has already been collecting incriminating evidence against terror organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
Hamas rally in Gaza (Photo: EPA)
The weakness of the current case against Hamas, and against the Tamil Tigers, was said to be due to the nature of the European process for declaring entities as terror organizations. In the European system, the list must be reviewed every six months which resulted in the Europeans using unclassified material and media publications to rebuild the files, which were then automatically approved.
The Europeans feared presenting classified intelligence material to the court, with the apprehension that the information would ultimately end up in the hands of Hamas and aid the terror group. Therefore, the Europeans relied on low-level material to build the file against Hamas. The EU now realizes that it will have to introduce more solid evidence.
Another reason for the court to have accepted the appeal by Hamas to take themselves off the EU’s terror list could be the court’s attempt to strengthen its stance within the EU – not fearing confrontation with European countries.
Yitzhak Benhorin, Itamar Eichner, Roi Kais and Elior Levy contributed to this report.
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Tags: European Union, Hamas, Hamas leader, list of terrorist organizations
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WarSclerotic 
December 17, 2014 at 8:34 PM
Is Europe Stupid? Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks!
http://www.madisdead.blogspot.co.il/2014/12/is-europe-stupid-hamas-claimed.html
* On August 19, 2003, twenty-one people were killed and over 130 wounded in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus in Jerusalem. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizbollah all claimed responsibility. The victims: Goldie Taubenfeld, 43, the mother of 13, and her son Shmuel, 5 months, of the US; Lilach Kardi, 22, who was in the ninth month of pregnancy; Yaakov Binder, 50; Shalom Mordechai Reinitz, 49, and his son, Yissaschar Dov, 9; Elisheva Meshulami, 16; Rabbi Chanoch Segal, 65; Menachem Leibel, 24; Shmuel Zargari, 11 months old; Rabbi Eliezer Weisfish, 42; Miriam Eisenstein, 20; Chava Rechnitzer, 19; Rabbi Shmuel Volner, 50; Binyamin Bergman, 15; Liba Schwartz, 57; Avraham Bar-Or, 12; Faige Dushinsky, 50; Tehila Nathanson, 3; Rachel Weiss, 70; Marie Antonia, 39, of the Philippines.
* On August 12, 2003, Erez Hershkovitz, 18, was murdered at a bus stop outside Ariel when a Palestinian suicide bomber, 17, detonated himself. Three others were seriously wounded in the attack, which was claimed by Hamas.
* On June 20, 2003, gunmen opened fire on a passing car, killing Tsvi Goldstein, 47, and wounding his wife and parents on their way to join their son, who had been married the night before. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
* On Mar 7, 2003, Rabbi Eli Horowitz, 52, and his wife Dina, 50, were killed and five wounded by armed terrorists disguised as Jewish worshipers, while they were celebrating the Sabbath. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
* On Mar 5, 2003, sixteen people were killed and 55 wounded in a suicide bombing of an Egged bus en route to Haifa University. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
* On Nov 21, 2002, eleven people were killed and some 50 wounded by a suicide bomber on a bus in Jerusalem. The bus was filled with passengers, including schoolchildren, traveling toward the center of the city during rush hour. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. The victims: Hodaya Asraf, 13; Marina Bazarski, 46; Hadassah (Yelena) Ben-David, 32; Sima Novak, 56; Kira Perlman, 67, and her grandson Ilan Perlman, 8; Yafit Ravivo, 14; Ella Sharshevsky, 44, and her son Michael Sharshevsky, 16; Mircea Varga, 25, a tourist from Romania; Dikla Zino, 22.
* On Nov 6, 2002, Assaf Tzfira, 18, and Amos Sa’ada, 52, were killed when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire in a hothouse and textile factory at Pe’at Sadeh. The terrorist was killed by a security officer. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
* On Oct 10, 2002, Sa’ada Aharon, 71, was killed and about 30 people were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up while trying to board a bus across from Bar-Ilan University. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
* On Sept 19, 2002, Solomon Hoenig, 79, Yossi Mamistavlov, 39, Yaffa Shemtov, 49, Rosanna Siso, 63, Ofer Zinger, 29, and Jonathan (Yoni) Jesner, 19, of Glasgow, Scotland, were killed and about 70 people were wounded when a terrorist detonated a bomb in a Tel-Aviv bus. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
December 17, 2014 at 10:06 PM
I can’t help but wonder if any of this would be happening if not for Hussein in the WH.
The Europeans are merely following his lead further and further down the road of appeasing the Muslim terrorists.