Prime Minister Netanyahu held a telephone conversation with his British counterpart Theresa May, during which he thanked her for London’s new classification of all branches of the Lebanese group Hezbollah as a terror organization. In later statements, the Israeli leader characterized the decision as important both diplomatically and with regard to security, and issued a “call on other countries, first of all in Europe but also around the world, to join this important move by Britain.”
British authorities said they made the determination after they were no longer able to distinguish between Hezbollah’s political and military arms. According to its new status, any individuals found guilty of holding links to either branch of the terror group now face jail terms of up to 10 years. It is important to note, however, that contrary to the United States, Canada and Israel which have already blacklisted the Iranian-proxy group, the European Union continues to maintain a distinction between the military arm of the Shi’ite organization and its political branch, to which three active ministers within Lebanon’s government are affiliated.