The extremist Shia organisation Hezbollah has already been classified in its entirety as a terrorist organisation and banned by Israel (1989), the USA (1997), the Netherlands (2004), Canada (2002), the Gulf Cooperation Council (2016), the United Kingdom (2019) and even the Arab League (2016). Germany has so far declined to do so.
Germany artificially divides Hezbollah into a military and a political wing and has banned only the former. Hezbollah itself does not recognise this division and has always actively rejected the distinction. It finances itself essentially from two sources: from Iran and through crime.
Elio Adler, chairman of the board of the WerteInitiative – jüdisch-deutsche Positionen e.V.: “This terrorist organisation must be banned completely here in Germany as well. As Jewish citizens of Germany, we see the direct connection between domestic and foreign policy here. Hezbollah functionaries are, among other things, regular participants in the appalling Al-Quds march in Berlin. Hezbollah harms Germany every day: drug trafficking and money laundering for the benefit of the terrorists take place daily before our eyes. Much of the money thus ‘earned’ flows to the Middle East and finances terror and war there. We call for three measures: drying up Hezbollah’s financial flows, increasing the pressure of prosecution, and banning the so-called ‘political’ arm of Hezbollah alongside the military one. Hezbollah must be banned as a whole as a terrorist organisation.”
The consequences would be:
– Less crime on Germany’s streets.
– A weakening of the organisation’s military resources in Lebanon and Syria. This would, among other things, reduce the likelihood of a war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and/or Iran. Germany could thus help prevent a war without firing a single shot.
– Weakening Hezbollah would slow the settlement of Shias and the simultaneous expulsion of Sunnis in Syria. How are the Sunni refugees currently in Germany supposed to return to a region dominated by an aggressive Shia presence? The consequences would be far-reaching: Hezbollah and an aggressive Iran will trigger further waves of refugees.
