EU refuses to call Hezbollah a terrorist organization

European Union President Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis. Photo by Nathan Morley.

European Union President Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis said Tuesday said that the EU would not grant Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s request to declare Iran-funded Hezbollah as a terrorist organization because “Hezobollah is a political party in Lebanon which also runs charity organizations.”

Lieberman’s request came after reports that Hezbollah organized the July 18 bombing of a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria.

“It’s time to add Hezbollah to the list of terrorist organizations in Europe, as a message from the international community to those who on the one hand meet with diplomats and on the other hand murder innocent civilians on the same continent,” Lieberman said at a conference of foreign ministers in Brussels.