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EU LABELS HEZBOLLAH A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION

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By: Jimmy Xiao

The European Union decided Monday that it would heed Israel’s requests and join the United States in labeling the militant arm of Hezbollah, based out of Lebanon, a terrorist organization.Although Israel has accomplished its decades long goal of having the EU label Hezbollah as terrorists, there was only a cool reception of the news as the EU attempted to separate the military and political wings of Hezbollah. Israeli officials feared that this would drag down enforcement.Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu made the following statement, “Israel sees Hezbollah as a unified organization with no distinction between its wings. I hope the decision will bring about significant steps against the organization.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liebermann had much harsher words for the EU’s attempt to split Hezbollah, “The military wing and the political wing of Hezbollah are two sides of the same coin. At the head of each stands Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. The attempt to present the group as if it is partially extremist and partially moderate is like asking can a cannibal be a vegetarian.”

The EU’s decision, however, will in fact make enforcement easier, as European governments will find it easier to seize assets, prevent travel of certain individuals and gather intelligence.

This new decision will undoubtedly leave Europe much safer, as governments can now take stricter action against Hezbollah, which was accused, but not implicated in a terrorist attack in Bulgaria against Israeli tourists last year.

Hezbollah is also involved in operations in Syria, where they are assisting the Assad regime.