In a letter to the European Union’s Ambassador to the United States, David O’Sullivan, U.S. Representatives took the EU to task for pretending there is a legitimate “political” wing of Hezbollah. The EU has labeled Hezbollah’s “military arm” as a terrorist organization, distinguishing it from the group’s political wing, which is not so designated.
Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL-06) and Grace Meng (D-NY-06) sent the letter to O’Sullivan following the recent decision by an organization of Gulf States (GCC) to designate the entire Hezbollah enterprise as a terrorist organization.
“While the 2013 EU designation of Hezbollah’s military wing was a step in the right direction, distinguishing between Hezbollah’s military and political arms is a distinction without a difference,” Roskam and Meng wrote. “Hezbollah can easily transfer money within its organization, rendering EU attempts to effectively sanction its terrorist activities meaningless. The entire organization is implicated in Hezbollah’s nefarious activities.”
The U.S. lawmakers made no bones about the extent of mayhem Hezbollah has unleashed on the world:
Since its founding, Hezbollah, funded in part by Iran, has been responsible for thousands of deaths in Lebanon, Turkey, Bulgaria, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, and many more. There is no indication that Hezbollah has slowed its terrorist activities. In recent years, Hezbollah has been implicated in plots in Cyprus, Thailand, Nigeria, Uruguay, the U.S. and more.
Roskam and Meng then turned to the dangers posed to Israel by Hezbollah.
Hezbollah is also in possession of approximately 150,000 rockets and missiles, some of which are capable of precision targeting nearly anywhere in Israel. In February, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah declared his intention to target an ammonia plant in Haifa and boasted that such an action will ‘lead to the deaths of tens of thousands of inhabitants.’ This type of action goes against international law, all recognized norms of armed conflict, and basic morality. We are inching closer to another Hezbollah-initiated war against Israel that would be disastrous for all involved.
“The European Union is a vital partner to the United States in addressing global issues,” the two Members of Congress added. “Given our collective importance to the global financial system, a unified approach to countering terrorist financing would be a formidable obstacle for terrorist organizations like Hezbollah. We urge the European Union to immediately designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and work to oppose their global terrorist ambitions.”
The letter was sent to O’Sullivan on March 9.

