Lebanon's Hezbollah should be placed on the European Union’s list of terrorist groups, Philipp Missfelder, the spokesman on foreign policy for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party in the Bundestag, wrote to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
Missfelder’s call to outlaw Hezbollah is the first such statement from a senior European politician since the US and Israeli intelligence agencies asserted that the Lebanese group was responsible, alongside Iran, for murdering five Israelis and their bus driver in Bulgaria in July.
The Christian Democratic Union spokesman 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 ally Israel and is involved in countless terror activities and receives protection from the Iranian regime.”
“The EU should not allow any more time to elapse” before banning Hezbollah, he added, 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 now holds the presidency of the 27-member EU, to take action against Hezbollah.
German and Israeli observers of the “German-Israeli special relationship” consider Missfelder to be the most knowledgeable and supportive spokesman when it comes to Israel.
Merkel has described Israel’s security interests as integral to those of the Federal Republic. Despite Merkel’s pledges that Israel’s security is "non-negotiable" for her country, the number of Hezbollah members in Germany has increased from 900 in 2010 to a current figure of 950. Hezbollah remains a legal political organization in the Federal Republic.
Pro-Israel groups at an anti-Iranian regime protest last week called on the Merkel administration to ban Hezbollah.
In February, Missfelder said that 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 , he told Berlin daily BZ “We should not take away any option from the table, including the military option.”

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT

JPost.com