Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton that “everyone knows what Hezbollah is,” in a meeting on Wednesday at the end of his visit to Brussels.
According to the Israeli foreign ministry, Lieberman, who was in the European capital for the annual meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council, followed on from his earlier calls to the EU to include the Lebanese Shiite militia group in its list of terror organisations.
Ashton’s office, notably, did not reveal any details of the meeting or indeed confirm the meeting took place in the first place.
Lieberman’s appeal to the EU to outlaw Hezbollah after Israel said it was responsible for last week’ terrorist attack in Bulgaria which claimed the lives of five Israeli tourists, fell on deaf ears on Tuesday, after Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Markoulis publicly stated at a press conference that “there is no consensus among EU member states” to add the group to the EU list of terror groups.
“The Lebanese Hezbollah is an organization that comprises a political party and a] social services network, as well as an armed wing,” she said. “Hezbollah is active in Lebanese politics, including the parliament and the government, and plays a specific role with regard to the status quo in Lebanon.”
"Taking into account this and other aspects there is no consensus for putting Hezbollah on the list of terrorist organisations," she said.
The EU would consider this if there were tangible evidence of Hezbollah engaging in acts of terror, she added.
But in Israel, foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that "for years we have been providing Europe with information on Hezbollah''s direct involvement in terror attacks.
"But certain states in the EU have clarified to us that because of political reasons, they prefer to not add Hezbollah to the list, despite them not disputing the evidence."
Israel’s Mossad chief Tamir Pardo and Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen told a cabinet briefing earlier this week that Iran and Hizbullah had targeted Israelis in more than 20 countries around the world the past two years, though the vast majority of attempts had failed, or been thwarted.
Israeli army chief of staff Benny Gantz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense committee that Israel had thwarted at least fifteen attacks targeting Israelis abroad prior to last week''s bombing.
The United States, the Netherlands, Britain, Australia and Canada already classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
But a decision to place Hezbollah on the terror list needs unanimity of the 27 EU member states.
Whilst stressing Europe’s “unwavering commitment to the fight against terrorism”, the Cypriot minister, whose country currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency, insisted there was no “tangible evidence of Hezbollah engaging in acts of terrorism”.
Lieberman reportedly refuted this in his meeting with Ashton, insisting the international community “are aware of the criminal and terrorist activities it perpetrates” and that failure to take action to condemn the group “will have severe implications on the stability of the Middle East and on global security”.
The Israeli minister told Israel’s radio that there was “substantial support” inside the EU for putting Hezbollah on the blacklist. He told Ashton that “everyone knows who and what the Hezbollah organization is.” “All are aware of the criminal terrorist activities it perpetrates,” he told the EU foreign policy chief.
Lieberman stated that he had heard a lot of support for the move. “We have put the proposal forward officially. It was a substantial beginning of what could be a long process to achieve the desired result,” he told Israeli radio. “No one had expected it to be immediately accepted without debate,” he said.

France main stumbling block ?

According to EJP sources, France, with its historic close ties to Lebanon, was the main country within the EU to prevent placing Hezbollah on the terror list as it feels its influence in this country would be diminished by such a move. France is considered as a ‘key player’ in Lebanon and if Paris were to advocate for Hezbollah’s inclusion in the EU’s terror list, other countries would likely follow suit.
French diplomats in Beirut regularly meet Hezbollah officials. and feels its influence there would be diminished by such a move.
Former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner held talks with a Hezbollah MP in Beirut in 2009 as did former EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
During his meeting with Ashton, Lieberman also spoke of his concerns for the future of diplomacy between Israel and its neighbours, following last year’s Arab Spring, which overthrew regimes across the region and brought Islamist groups to power, notably in Egypt.
The Israeli Foreign Minister alleged that previous agreements between Israel and Arab countries, such as the 1979 accord with Egypt, “have not been agreements with countries and citizens but rather agreements between Israel and the rulers of those countries”.
Stressing that such agreements “did not facilitate reconciliation between the peoples, nor did they generate a true peace”, he called for future agreements to “earn the support of the public and opinion makers alike”, so that they fall outside of party political lines and “lead to true reconciliation through education for tolerance, respect and cooperation”.
Lieberman is also reported to have raised the issue of controversy regarding fellow Arab Spring subject Tunisia’s apparent desire to include a clause in its constitution making normalised relations with Israel a criminal offence. Lieberman asked Ashton for EU “intervention” in the matter on Israel’s behalf.
Following Tuesday’s 11th meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council, the EU issued a statement reiterating the EU’s “fundamental commitment to Israel’s security,” while including a litany of complaints against Israeli policy.
“The EU expresses deep concern about developments on the ground which threaten to make a two-state solution impossible, such as, inter alia, the marked acceleration of settlement construction, ongoing evictions of Palestinians and the demolition of their housing and infrastructure in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, the worsening living conditions of the Palestinian population and serious limitations for the Palestinian Authority to promote the economic development of Palestinian communities, in particular in Area C,” the statement read.
It also said the EU was concerned about reports of a possible resumption of construction of the security barrier, “because the EU considers that the separation barrier where built on occupied land is illegal under international law, constitutes an obstacle to peace and threatens to make a two-state solution impossible.”
The statement also expressed “deep concern” about settler extremism; called for the immediate opening of crossings for aid, commercial goods and people to and from Gaza; wished for “intra-Palestinian reconciliation”; and encouraged Israel to “increase efforts to address the economic and social situation of the Arab minority.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said it was “disappointing to observe that the EU, instead of publishing a review that summarizes the discussion, chose to publish an agglutination of complaints and grievances.”

by: Yossi Lempkowicz. Shari Reyness contributed to this report.

EJP