EU Refusal to Blacklist Hizbullah Affects Mideast Stability

Israel: EU Refusal to Blacklist Hizbullah Affects Mideast Stability - Herb Keinon

The EU's refusal to place Hizbullah on its list of terrorist organizations will have "severe ramifications" for Middle East stability and global security, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Wednesday in Brussels. "Everyone knows who and what the Hizbullah organization is, and all are aware of the criminal and terrorist activities it perpetrates."

Following Tuesday's annual EU-Israel Association Council meeting, the EU issued a statement about that meeting that included a litany of complaints against Israeli policy. Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said it was "disappointing to observe that the EU, instead of publishing a review that summarizes the discussion, chose to publish an agglutination of complaints and grievances." (Jerusalem Post)



The EU has at least provided a new answer to an old question.

Q: What do you call something if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck?

A: A political wing.



EU Confusion on Hizbullah - Walter Russell Mead (American Interest)



"There is no consensus for putting Hizbullah on the list of terrorist organizations" since it had a political wing as well as an armed wing, said Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

However, she left the door open for a change in policy if anybody could find some "tangible evidence" of Hizbullah wrongdoing. Apparently word has not reached the EU about some of Hizbullah's past activities:

The 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, which killed 63 people.

The 1983 Beirut barracks attacks, the deadliest terrorist assault on a U.S. target prior to 9/11, which killed 241 Marines, sailors and soldiers and wounded over 100 others.

The 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847.

The 1994 bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, which killed 80 and injured over 300.

The indictment of Hizbullah leaders by a UN tribunal for the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Attempted 2009 attacks on Egyptian and Israeli targets, foiled by Egyptian security (with similar incidents in Thailand and elsewhere this year).

The U.S., UK and Canada have all listed Hizbullah as a terrorist group. Perhaps there are reasons. Worth following up with a phone call, anyway.