Taheri tweeted that “Germany’s decision to ban Hezbollah seems first step to total ban by all 27 members of European Union. German argument is that it makes no sense to ban the armed wing but allow its controller,the political wing, to operate. It’s like banning the puppet but not puppeteer.”
He added that “If, as Germans say, Hezbollah’s political wing is puppet master with military wing as puppet, don’t forget there is an even bigger puppet master: Islamic Republic in Iran. Although a novice, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas must know without cash from Iran there would be no Hezbollah.”
Taheri, widely considered one of the world’s leading experts on the Middle East, tweeted “Imposing ban on Hezbollah by EU would be gesture of solidarity with Lebanon Protests against a corrupt govt. that has led it to the edge of precipice. Hezbollah’s invocation of religious freedom is spurious. Hostage-taking, rocket & bomb attacks on civilians isn’t religion.”
The European Union merely banned Hezbollah’s so-called “military wing” in 2013 after Hezbollah operatives blew up an Israeli tour bus in Bulgaria, murdering five Israelis and their Bulgarian Muslim bus driver. Hezbollah’s leaders state their movement is a unitary organization without wings.
Germany’s government outlawed all Hezbollah activities within its borders on Thursday.
Iran’s regime is Hezbollah’s chief financial sponsor. US administrations – the respective administrations of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, for example – have classified Iran’s regime the worst state-sponsor of international terrorism.
In January, US special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism Elan Carr stated that Iran is the “world’s chief trafficker in antisemitism” and that “antisemitism isn’t ancillary to the ideology of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is a central foundational component of the ideology of that regime, and we have to be clear about it, and we have to confront it and call it out for what it is.”