BERLIN – Hezbollah should be placed on the European Union’s terror list, Philipp
Missfelder, Bundestag foreign policy spokesman for German Chancellor Angela
Merkel’s party, wrote The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
Missfelder’s call
to outlaw Hezbollah is the first statement from a prominent and senior European
politician since the United States and Israeli intelligence agencies asserted
that the Lebanese group Hezbollah – in a joint project with Iran – murdered five
Israelis and a Bulgarian bus driver in July.
The Christian Democratic
Union deputy Missfelder wrote, “It is long overdue to place Hezbollah on the
EU’s list of terror organizations.”
He stressed that Hezbollah “threatens
the security of our alliance partner Israel and is involved in countless terror
activities and receives protection from the Iranian regime.”
Missfelder
added that “the EU should not allow any more time to elapse” regarding the ban
of Hezbollah, because “an organization that agitates against our friends in
Israel cannot be accepted in Europe.” He appealed to Cypriot Foreign Minister
Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, whose country holds the presidency of the 26-member
EU, to take action against Hezbollah.
“I call on the Cypriot council
presidency, in view of the tense situation in the Middle East, to immediately
address this topic,” Missfelder said.
German and Israeli observers of the
so-called German-Israeli special relationship consider Missfelder to be the
German lawmaker most knowledgeable and supportive of Israel’s security
interests. Merkel has described these interests as integral to those of
the Federal Republic.
Despite Merkel’s pledges that Israel’s security is
“nonnegotiable” for her country, the number of Hezbollah members in Germany has
increased from 900 in 2010 to 950. Hezbollah remains a legal political
organization in the Federal Republic. Pro- Israel groups called on the Merkel
administration last week at an anti-Iranian regime protest to ban
Hezbollah.
In February, Missfelder said the international community must
retain the military option to stop Iran’s drive to develop nuclear arms. He told
the Post at the time, “After the West has for years allowed the wool to be
pulled over its eyes, Iran cannot take us seriously. The military option arises
from the rising crisis situation. If Iran does not give in, a military attack
will be more likely.”
In a February interview, Missfelder told the Berlin
daily BZ, “We should not remove any option from the table, including the
military option.”