Sunday, February 10, 2013

Bankrupting the World's Most Dangerous Charity

RON PROSOR

Six months after the smoke cleared from the bus bombing in Burgas, the deadliest terror attack on European soil since 2005, the Bulgarian authorities bravely identified the Hezbollah terrorist organization as the culprit. In response, the United States has called on the international community to take "proactive" and "immediate action to crack down on Hezbollah."
While most of the world suspected Hezbollah's involvement in the Burgas bombing from the start, the Shiite militant group continues to remain conspicuously absent from the European Union's list of recognized terror organizations. Not since Napoleon invaded Russia has the European continent seen such an astonishing lack of foresight.


Over the past 30 years, Hezbollah has murdered scores of men, women, and children with the blessing of its patron saint, Iran. Its agents have carried out terrorist attacks on all five continents, wreaking havoc everywhere from Kenya to Argentina to Greece to Thailand. U.S. servicemen have also figured prominently in Hezbollah's crosshairs, including the 1983 bombing of a U.S. marine barracks in Lebanon, which left 241 Americans dead.

Astonishingly, despite all evidence to the contrary, the EU continues to treat Hezbollah as a charitable organization -- on par with groups like Oxfam and the Red Cross. This designation greatly hinders international efforts to counter Hezbollah's terrorist activities and provides the organization with a veritable washing machine to launder its drug profits from around the world.
Some European lawmakers continue to argue that Hezbollah is primarily a social-services organization because it spends money on ordinary Lebanese citizens. This is like calling al Qaeda an urban-planning organization because of its desire to level tall buildings. Hezbollah uses its funds to purchase Iranian weaponry and transform the Lebanese state into an outpost for terror. Hezbollah's idea of investing in the next generation is to acquire 50,000 missiles -- more than many NATO members -- and stockpile them in the immediate vicinity of schools and playgrounds. It doesn't take a Nobel Peace Prize laureate to realize that this isn't a selfless humanitarian organization.

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