National Security Advisor Calls for European Union to Add Hezbollah to Terrorist List

Daniel Ensign — February 19, 2013 – 2:59 pm | Barack Obama | Israel | Terrorism Comments (0) Add a comment

In a column in Sunday’s New York Times, White House National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon condemned the terrorist acts committed by Hezbollah and called for the European Union to add Hezbollah to its list of terrorist organizations. Donilon’s column follows a recent report from the Bulgarian government denouncing Hezbollah’s role in the July Burgas bus bombing that killed five Israeli tourists and injured 32 others.

Donilon wrote:

Since 2011, the group has murdered civilians in Bulgaria, seen its activities disrupted in Cyprus and Thailand, and worked to plot attacks elsewhere. It is helping to prop up the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria; and it acts as a proxy for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in the region and beyond. In doing so, Hezbollah is putting the well-being of Lebanon and its people at risk.

Now that Bulgarian authorities have exposed Hezbollah’s global terrorist agenda, European governments must respond swiftly. They must disrupt its operational networks, stop flows of financial assistance to the group, crack down on Hezbollah-linked criminal enterprises and condemn the organization’s leaders for their continued pursuit of terrorism.

The United States applauds those countries that have long recognized Hezbollah’s nefarious nature and that have already condemned the group for the attack in Burgas. Europe must now act collectively and respond resolutely to this attack within its borders by adding Hezbollah to the European Union’s terrorist list. That is the next step toward ensuring that Burgas is the last successful Hezbollah operation on European soil.

Click here to read the full column.

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