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UK Announces Ban on Hezbollah Terror Group’s Political Wing

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British government announces plans to extend ban of Hezbollah to group’s ‘political wing’

The British government Monday formally announced that it intends to ban the political wing of the Hezbollah terror organization.

In a statement Monday, the British government said it would bring a proposal before Parliament to ban Hezbollah and two other radical Islamic organizations as terrorist groups.

“A draft order, laid in Parliament today, will proscribe Hezbollah in its entirety alongside Ansaroul Islam and JNIM who operate in the Sahel region in Africa.”

“The government has taken the decision to proscribe Hezbollah in its entirety on the basis that it is no longer tenable to distinguish between the military and political wings of Hizballah.”

The ban, if adopted as is expected, will criminalize membership in Hezbollah. Members or supporters of the terror group will be liable to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Britain had hitherto distinguished between the military and political wings of Hezbollah, banning the military wing while permitting the political wing to remain a legal organization in the UK.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said that Hezbollah’s operations between the political and military wings were so intertwined, the UK could no longer differentiate between the two.

“Hezbollah is continuing in its attempts to destabilize the fragile situation in the Middle East – and we are no longer able to distinguish between their already banned military wing and the political party. Because of this, I have taken the decision to proscribe the group in its entirety,” Javid said.

Javid’s expected move follows warnings by MPs that the UK had drawn a false distinction by proscribing Hezbollah’s military wing but not its political side.

This loophole in British law has allowed participants in the annual Al-Quds Day march through central London to wave the Hezbollah flag, featuring an assault rifle.

At the end of last year, Javid acknowledged that Hezbollah chiefs had themselves questioned the distinction between its military and political activities.

Members of Congress in the United States have urged the EU to designate all branches of Hezbollah as a terror group, after several Hezbollah parliamentarians in Lebanon were caught on camera calling for terror against Israelis.

Israel lauded Britain’s decision on Monday to ban Hezbollah and urged the European Union likewise to class the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shi’ite militia and political movement in its entirety as a terrorist organization.

“All who truly wish to combat terror must reject the fake distinction between ‘military’ & ‘political’ wings,” Israeli Security Minister Gilad Erdan said in a tweet thanking his British counterpart, Sajid Javid. “Now is the time for the #EU to follow suit!”

Acting Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz praised the decision of the British government to ban all of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization Monday.

“There is no difference between Nasrallah and the terrorists who carry out terrorist activities and the advantages of his mission and Iran’s mission against Israel and against Arab regimes throughout the Middle East,” Katz said.

Katz called on the European Union to follow Britain’s lead and designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

“In my planned meeting with the UN secretary-general next week in New York, I will work to convince the UN institutions to promote a similar resolution,” he said.

(INN)

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