World Jewish News

US House of Representatives committee tightens sanctions against Hezbollah

The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee passed two bipartisan bills this week to tighten sanctions on Hezbollah terror organization.

The objective is to further isolate the Lebanese terrorist organization and cut off its funding sources.

The bills are sponsored by Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ed Royce (Republican from California) and Democrat Representative Eliot Engel (from New York and are amendments to the Hezbollah International Financing Act that passed in 2015.

This Act imposes sanctions against any government that knowingly provides the group with significant financial or material support, as well as against foreign persons who support Hezbollah’s propaganda, fundraising or recruitment activities. The bill also expands U.S. efforts to combat Hezbollah’s transnational criminal activity and directs the president to determine which Iranian or Syrian banks facilitate transactions for Hezbollah in violation of U.S. sanctions law.

The second bill slaps sanctions on anyone who used human shields in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War or afterward and explicitly names senior Hezbollah members. The bill targets "foreign persons that are responsible for gross violations of internationally recognized human rights by reason of the use by Hezbollah of civilians as human shields, and for other purposes."

Iran-backed Hezbollah is responsible for the murder of hundreds of American citizens, threatens America’s ally Israel with a massive arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets currently aimed at Israel’s north, and has been committing numerous atrocities against the Syrian people.

The bills are expected to receive bipartisan support when they make their way to the house floor.

“We commend the Foreign Affairs Committee for recognizing Hezbollah’s deadly and destabilizing actions and for strengthening American counterterrorism tools to ensure they are effectively cut off from support,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “We look forward to the passage of these bills by both chambers of Congress.”

Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) are promoting a similar anti-Hezbollah effort in the Senate.

EJP