Tag Archive for EU

| May 12, 2013
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EU’s possible ban of only Hezbollah’s theoretically independent military wing

EU expected to allow Shi’ite Lebanese group’s political arm to operate as legal organization, even though it’s fund-raising facilitates terrorism.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, BERLIN, & JONNY PAUL, LONDON

 

 

 

The European Union has moved toward a consensus on outlawing the armed wing of Hezbollah, with its inclusion on the EU terror list slated to take place in late 2013.

Lebanon's Hezbollah supporters gesture as they march in Beirut, November 2011

Lebanon’s Hezbollah supporters gesture as they march in Beirut, November 2011 – Photo: Reuters/Khalil Hassan

The EU plans to endorse the UK’s model of proscribing Hezbollah’s military wing as a terror entity while permitting the Shi’ite Lebanese group’s political arm to operate as a legal organization, sources well-versed in the inner workings of EU discussions on the matter told The Jerusalem Post last week.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| April 28, 2013
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Seeing the connection: Hezbollah, or Iran’s int’l plots of carnage

Numerous foiled European operations may stand as “tipping point” for EU to finally include Hezbollah on terrorism blacklist.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT

 

 

 

As the European Union grapples with a ban of the Lebanese Shi’ite organization Hezbollah within its territory, reports emerged last week of foiled Iranian and Hezbollah terror and criminal plots against targets spanning Bulgaria, Nepal, Canada and the US.

ZAKA man examines damage in Burgas

ZAKA man examines damage in Burgas – Photo: Avigdor Shatran

Will the mushrooming patchwork of global terrorism push the EU to include Hezbollah in its terror list? An EU designation could deal a one-two punch to the Lebanese group and its chief proxy Iran.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| April 23, 2013
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EU preparing guidelines for labeling West Bank products

EU pursuing efforts to ensure labeling of settlement goods.

Israeli postal codes placed on exported products already alert European custom officials that products originate over the 1967 line.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF

 

 

The European Union is working on legal guidelines for any member states that might choose to clearly label products produced in West Bank settlements, according to diplomatic sources.

Activists march through Modi'in Illit supermarket

Activists march through Modi’in Illit supermarket – Photo: REUTERS

“We are pursuing efforts to ensure correct labeling of settlement goods as tasked by the council,” an EU spokesperson told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

The work now underway in Brussels to create guidelines for the sale of West Bank settlement products follows a December 2012 conclusion by an EU meeting of foreign ministers that all agreements with Israel “must unequivocally and explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, namely the Golan Heights; the West Bank, including east Jerusalem; and the Gaza Strip.”

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| April 20, 2013
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EU Favors Labelling of ‘Settlement Products’

Report: EU foreign ministers support efforts to label products from Judea, Samaria & ‘East-Jerusalem’.

By Elad Benari, Canada

 

 

EU foreign ministers, among them Britain’s William Hague and Laurent Fabius of France, have said they will back EU efforts to label products from Israeli communities in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, according to a letter obtained by AFP on Friday.

“We warmly welcome your commitment to work with fellow commissioners to prepare EU-wide guidelines on the labelling of settlement produce,” said the letter by 13 ministers, addressed to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and dated April 12.

“This is an important step to ensure correct and coherent application of EU consumer protection and labelling legislation, which is in fulfillment of our previous commitments and is fully consistent with long-standing EU policy in relation to Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” the letter said, according to AFP. Continue Reading »

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| April 20, 2013
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Open Skies Cause Turbulence for Israeli airlines

 

Israeli airlines may strike Sunday if the cabinet approves new ‘Open Skies’ agreement with the EU.

Transportation Ministry: Airline agreement is good for economy & the public.

By Israel Hayom staff

Barring a last-minute compromise, Israeli airlines El Al, Arkia and Israir will go on strike on Sunday to protest the government’s expected approval of a new comprehensive civil aviation agreement with the European Union.

El Al and other Israeli airlines will strike if the government approves the Open Skies agreement on Sunday. – Photo: Moshe Shai

The cabinet is expected to vote on the agreement when it holds its weekly session on Sunday.

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Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| March 29, 2013
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Report: France backs adding Hezbollah militiamen on terrorists’ blacklist

Earlier this week, Bahrain declared the Lebanese group a terrorist organization and called on other Persian Gulf nations to follow suit.

By JTA

 

PARIS– The French government supports adding the armed wing of Hezbollah to the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations, an Arabic daily reported.

Hezbollah terrorists - Photo by EPA

Hezbollah supporters – Photo by EPA

 

The London-based Al Hayat daily reported on Friday that French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius informed U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry of Paris’ decision at a meeting on Wednesday.

According to the report, the French government endorsed the designation following the finding by Bulgarian authorities that Hezbollah was responsible for the terrorist attack last summer on a busload of Israeli tourists in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas, Bulgaria, and because of the support Hezbollah is providing to the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| March 28, 2013
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Cyprus jails Hezbollah terrorist for plotting attack on Israelis

Hossam Taleb Yaacoub sentenced to 4 years in prison for plotting to attack Israeli interests in Cyprus.

US says Yaacoub’s guilty verdict demonstrates need for EU to take severe measures against Hezbollah threat.

By Reuters

 

A Cyprus court sentenced a member of Lebanon’s Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement to four years in jail on Thursday on charges of plotting to attack Israeli interests on the island.

Hossam Taleb Yaacoub – Photo: AP

In a case bearing similarities to a deadly bus bombing in Bulgaria targeting Israelis last year, the Cypriot court convicted Hossam Taleb Yaccoub on five counts of participating in a criminal organization and agreeing to commit a crime. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| March 28, 2013
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Bulgaria: Any EU gov’t could request blacklisting Hezbollah

Bulgaria’s interim PM says he will “provide needed evidence” to place Hezbollah on EU’s terror blacklist following their Burgas terrorist bombing.

By REUTERS

 

BRUSSELS – Bulgaria will provide more evidence Hezbollah planned an attack that killed five Israelis last year, in a move it said on Wednesday should convince European Union countries to put the Islamist group on its terrorist list.

ZAKA man examines damage in Burgas

ZAKA man examines damage in Burgas – Photo: Avigdor Shatran

Bulgaria accused the Lebanese militant movement on Feb. 5 of carrying out a bomb attack on a bus in the Black Sea city of Burgas that killed the Israelis and their Bulgarian driver last July.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| March 16, 2013
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Bulgaria won’t seek EU terror classification for Hezbollah

Bulgaria’s new PM Raikov reports that despite proof implicating Hezbollah in Burgas bombing, Sofia won’t push EU to recognize group as terrorist; move likely as concession to opposition groups who, like many of their EU partners, are scared & intimidated by Hezbollah.

By REUTERS

SOFIA – Bulgaria’s new interim prime minister said on Saturday he would not initiate any move to impose EU sanctions on the Islamist group Hezbollah, even though the country had implicated the Islamist movement in a bombing at a Black Sea resort.

Truck carries bus damaged in terrorist attack

Truck carries bus damaged in terrorist attack – Photo: Stoyan Nenov/ Reuters

Marin Raikov did not give a reason for his decision – but it will likely be seen as a concession to Bulgarian opposition groups, who have argued the country could open itself up to more attacks if it takes the lead in blacklisting Hezbollah.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| March 12, 2013
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At EU, Peres asks them to recognize Hezbollah as terror organization

In speech to the European Parliament Tuesday morning, Shimon Peres warns that time is running out to curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions and went on stressing the need of ensuring Syrian biological weapons don’t fall into the hands of terrorist groups.

 

President Shimon Peres called on the European Union to list Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, in an address to the European Parliament in Strasburg on Tuesday.

Israel's President Shimon Peres with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels at the EC headquarters March 7, 2013. - Photo by Reuters

Israel’s President Shimon Peres with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels at the EC headquarters March 7, 2013. – Photo: Reuters

 

Peres appealed to the Europeans to recognize terror for what it is, and to save Lebanon from such “terrorist madness”.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| March 10, 2013
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Some 20 EU Parliamentarians seek public condemnation of Erdoğan

Some 20 EU Parliament members sign letter demanding EU publicly condemn Turkish Prime Minister for statements in which he claimed ‘Zionism is crime against humanity’

By Itamar Eichner

 

Some 20 European Union Parliament Members sent a letter to the EU Foreign Policy Chief in which they strongly condemned remarks made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month. The Turkish PM drew international condemnation when he said that Zionism is a crime against humanity during a UN conference.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoganThis is the first time that such a large number of European parliamentarians come out so strongly against anti-Israel statements. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| March 7, 2013
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Peres tells EU president: Israeli settlements not the obstacle to peace, Terror is!

On a tour of European countries, Shimon Peres rejects the generic criticism of West Bank settlements, saying that terrorism is what prevented the implementation of 2-state solution.

By DPA

 

President Shimon Peres rejected European Union criticism of his country‘s settlement policy during a visit to Brussels on Wednesday, arguing that it did not stand in the way of peace in the Middle East.

President Peres and European Union Council President Herman Van Rompuy in Brussels on March 6. (AFP)

President Shimon Peres and European Union Council President Herman Van Rompuy in Brussels on March 6. – Photo: AFP

EU President Herman Van Rompuy said there would be no sustainable peace until Palestinian aspirations for statehood and sovereignty, and those of Israel for security, were fulfilled by a comprehensive deal based on the two-state solution. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| February 28, 2013
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EU consuls: EU must prevent Jewish housing in East Jerusalem

Some 22 European consuls posted in East Jerusalem & the West Bank, appeal to Brussels to intensify efforts to stop Jewish home building in West Bank, saying it poses ‘single biggest threat’ to peace process.

By the Associated Press

 

Nearly two dozen European diplomats have urged the EU to intensify efforts to block Israeli settlements in and near Jerusalem, saying that “such construction on occupied lands is the single biggest threat” to a Mideast peace deal, according to an internal report Wednesday.

Har Homa neighborhood in JerusalemThe report called for strict application of an EU-Israel trade pact to ensure products from settlements do not receive preferential treatment under the accord in European markets. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| February 20, 2013
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EU’s designation of Hezbollah would disrupt its financing of terror

Israel’s Homefront Defense Minister Avi Dichter is in Paris to suggest designation of Hezbollah as terrorist group: “Europe, that’s the real base of Hezbollah. … If they won’t be able to gather money … in Europe, they are going to be in trouble.”

By Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

 

 

A decision by the European Union to blacklist Hezbollah would interrupt the group’s financing because much of the money it uses to fund terrorist operations comes from European capitals, Homefront Defense Minister Avi Dichter said on Tuesday.

Homefront Defense Minister Avi Dichter. – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

Bulgaria is pressing the EU to toughen its stance toward Hezbollah after it blamed the Lebanese Islamist movement for a bus bombing that killed five Israelis at a Bulgarian Black Sea resort last year.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| February 18, 2013
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Bulgarian FM urges EU to recognize Hezbollah as terrorist organization

Sofia urges EU to blacklist Hezbollah as a terrorist organization & make an effort to prevent further attacks to EU members.

 

The European Union must take collective action against Hezbollah, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov said on Monday morning.
Relatives of a victim of the Burgas bomb attack

Relatives of a victim of the Burgas bomb attack – Photo: REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

Mladenov attended a meeting in Brussels to brief his counterparts on an initial investigative Bulgarian report which blamed Hezbollah for the bombing outside the Burgas airport that killed five Israeli tourists and the Bulgarian bus driver last July.

“We believe the attack that happened in Burgas last year was organized by people connected to the military wing of Hezbollah,” Mladenov said.

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