(New York, N.Y.) – Counter Extremism Project (CEP) President Frances F. Townsend released the following statement today in response to the announcement that the U.K. government has proposed that Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah be banned in its entirety. Previously, like most of Europe, the U.K. had banned only the so-called military wing of the group:

“U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s government should be commended for no longer refusing to abide by the fiction that there is a micrometer’s difference between the so-called political and military wings of Hezbollah. Now it is up to Parliament to quickly concur in this obvious truth and help build the momentum necessary to combat the financial and ideological reach of this global terrorist and criminal enterprise.

“While most E.U. countries may choose to continue to believe in the fairy tale of a bifurcated Hezbollah, the group itself readily admits otherwise: Hezbollah is a single entity with one leader—Hassan Nasrallah—directing all of its actions. In 2013, after the E.U. designated its military wing following an attack in Bulgaria, Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim Mussawi told Spiegel Online: ‘Hezbollah is a single large organization, we have no wings that are separate from one another. What’s being said in Brussels doesn’t exist for us.’ Whether it is holding the government formation process in Lebanon hostage or doing Iran’s bidding and furthering the suffering of the Syrian people by propping up dictator Bashar al-Assad, Nasrallah is giving the orders.

“The U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, the Arab League and Israel have previously designated Hezbollah in its entirety. Until the rest of Europe comes to this realization, and takes action similar to the U.K.’s, Hezbollah will be free to spread its ideological and financial tentacles across the E.U., and use those proceeds to strangle freedom and democracy in Lebanon.”

To learn more about the history, doctrine, leadership and violent activities of the Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah, please click here.