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Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/why-eu-should-ban-hezbollah/
Why the EU Should Ban Hizbullah
(Politico-EU) Amb. Richard A. Grenell - In one of its last acts of 2019, the German parliament called on the government to ban Hizbullah and deny the Iranian terror proxy the ability to plan, recruit and raise funds on German soil. The EU should follow the German parliament's lead and recognize Hizbullah in its entirety as a terrorist organization. Some EU members still argue for Hizbullah's legitimacy due to its political role in Lebanon, maintaining an artificial distinction, that the terror group itself does not recognize, between Hizbullah's "political wing" and "military wing." Yet Hizbullah works for the Iranian regime, not the Lebanese people, who have protested against Iran's influence in their country since October. Hizbullah has planned and executed terrorist attacks on European soil. It raises hundreds of millions of dollars per year through criminal networks and money laundering schemes originating in or transiting Europe. An EU-wide designation of Hizbullah is necessary to deny it the vast European recruiting and fundraising networks it needs to survive. The writer is U.S. Ambassador to Germany.