US Intelligence Director Urges France to Ban Hezbollah
BERLIN – US acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell has conveyed to France’s government the pressing need to outlaw the Lebanese terrorist movement Hezbollah.
“Grenell, in his capacity as acting director of national intelligence, spoke with Emmanuel Bonne, the foreign policy adviser to the president of France, to press him on banning Hezbollah in France and working to support an EU-wide ban,” Fox News reported on Thursday.
“The American official has visited Brussels several times to push for an EU-wide ban,” the report said. “Grenell also organized the entire embassy around working to ban Hezbollah. His team met weekly to strategize and use the latest intelligence to push for the ban in Germany.”
Germany’s government banned all Hezbollah activities within its borders on Thursday and classified Hezbollah a “terrorist movement.”
France, Austria and the EU have banned Hezbollah’s “military wing” and allow the Shi’ite organization’s “political wing” to operate.
The UK, the US, the Netherlands, Japan, the Arab League, Canada, Israel and a number of Latin America countries have designated Hezbollah’s entire organization a terrorist entity. Hezbollah’s leaders have declared their movement is a monolithic organization without divisions.
Read More: Jerusalem Post