This is a guest post by Stephen Hoffman
In the mid 1980s, as part of its commitment to spread the Iranian Islamist Revolution abroad, the IRG (Iranian Revolutionary Guards) created Hezbollah through its external branch, the Quds Force. Since then it has funded Hezbollah to the hilt, as well as providing them with lethal weapons. Today Hezbollah takes its orders and training from the IRG. To put it simply, the IRG has made Hezbollah the force it is. Yet when the EU was debating Hezbollah and made an irrelevant distinction by banning only its military wing, not one EU official mentioned the IRG.
To understand why the IRG created Hezbollah, one needs to refer back to an IRG editorial in the 1980s. It says “In order to achieve ideological, political, security and economic self-reliance we have no other choice but to mobilize all forces loyal to the Islamic Revolution, and through this mobilization, plant such a terror in the hearts of the enemies that they abandon the thought of an offensive and annihilation of our revolution”. In other words Hezbollah, like other terror groups the IRG created, was created to spread terror into the West. Worryingly, this is something the EU and UK Government are either wilfully ignoring or haven’t picked up on.
Thankfully, Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation of Defence of Democracies, is on hand to remind people of the truth. He said that,:
“Washington and Jerusalem should also use the Hezbollah designation [as a terrorist organisation] to encourage Europe to take the next logical step and designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, including their terrorist arm the Quds Force, who are Hezbollah’s masters”.
I agree wholeheartedly with these sentiments. As Campaigns officer for the UK Zionist Federation (ZF) I have led calls for the Revolutionary Guards to be listed as a terrorist organisation by the UK and EU. I believe the EU and UK Government should proscribe the IRG because of its support for terrorist movements worldwide, including Hezbollah. This is brought home by a report by counter-terrorism expert, Matthew Levitt, who stated, in a 17 page report looking into the terrorist activities of the Quds Force and Hezbollah, that “the Hezbollah-Quds Force threat has sometimes eclipsed that of al-Qaeda”. Considering the threat the IRG poses to the world, particularly through its support of Hezbollah, a proper policy to deal with Hezbollah would not ignore the Iranian elephant in the room.
The EU has the opportunity to show it truly wants to deal with terrorism by tackling Hezbollah’s master, the IRG. If it continues to ignore the problem the IRG will be able to spread terrorism worldwide, including on the streets of Europe unhindered. This doesn’t have to be the case. If you agree with me that it is time that the EU and UK Government speak up for the humanity that terrorist groups like the IRG try to destroy then sign the ZF’s petition calling for the EU to designate the IRG as a terrorist group. and find more details about the campaign here: . For more definitive proof of the IRG’s links with Hezbollah please read this.
With your support the EU and UK will be able to hear our voices loud and clear calling for comprehensive and clear policies to stand up to terror.
