Legislators from Austria’s governing coalition parties introduced a resolution urging the European Union to reassess Hezbollah’s entire organization as a terrorist movement.
According to a statement on the website of the Austria’s National Council, the formal name for its parliament, a number of members of the legislative body declared that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization.
“Hezbollah wants to destroy Israel and propagates antisemitism and spreads radical Islamic ideology,” said Reinhold Lopatka and Michaela Steinacker, both of whom are MPs from the conservative Austrian People’s Party – the lead partner in the conservative and Green coalition government in Austria.
The two MPs added that Hezbollah’s entity should be classified as a terrorist organization. Lopatka added that there is a need to put an end to the formation of the legend that Hezbollah’s terror attacks are “just resistance.”
The resolution urged Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s administration to advocate on the EU level that Hezbollah’s entire organization be reassessed in connection with a full terror designation.
The EU merely banned Hezbollah’s so-called “military” wing in 2013 after Hezbollah operatives blew up an Israeli tour bus in 2012 in Bulgaria, murdering five Israelis and their Bulgarian Muslim bus driver. Hezbollah’s leaders declare their movement a unified organization.
Last month, Germany outlawed all Hezbollah activities within the borders of the federal republic and designated the entire Hezbollah entity a terrorist movement.
