EU Should List Hezbollah As Terrorist Group

Following the Bulgarian Government’s confirmation that Hezbollah was behind last July’s attack on a tour bus which killed five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver, J Street on Tuesday reiterated its call on European governments and the European Union to list Hezbollah as a terrorist group without delay.

Bulgaria’s interior minister announced that two individuals with links to Hezbollah carried out the attack while Bulgaria’s foreign minister said the investigation showed that Hezbollah financed the attack.

J Street believes that the international community should speak with a strong, united voice in condemning acts of terror and violence perpetrated by any state or any non-state actor against the State of Israel or its people.

In September 2012, J Street welcomed bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress for letters urging the European Union to join the United States in designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. J Street lobbied in support of each of the letters: a September 14th letter signed by 75 Senators led by Senators Robert Casey (D-PA) and James Risch (R-ID) to High Representative Catherine Ashton; and two September 27 letters signed by more than 250 Members of the House of Representatives, one led by Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Royce (R-CA) to the Foreign Minister of Cyprus (which currently holds the Presidency of the EU) Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, and another letter led by Representatives Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Steve Israel (D-NY) and Albio Sires (D-NJ).