Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, Mr. Malinowski, for yielding, and for his friendship, leadership, and kind words. I thank my other friend from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for his leadership and for…
Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, Mr. Malinowski, for yielding, and for his friendship, leadership, and kind words. I thank my other friend from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for his leadership and for his kind words. I thank Ms. Manning for her leadership and kind words, as well.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 558, which urges the European Union to designate Hizballah in its entirety as a terrorist organization.
Mr. Speaker, this is Hizballah. Hizballah that bombed the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, the U.S. and French Marine barracks in Beirut, the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, the AMIA Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, bombed Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, and has--as Ms. Manning pointed out--over 150,000 rockets pointed at Israeli civilians.
First, I thank Chairman Meeks and Ranking Member McCaul for their leadership on the Foreign Affairs Committee and for bringing this resolution to the floor today.
I also want to extend my gratitude to my good friend from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) for partnering with me on this resolution, and to Ranking Member Joe Wilson for his leadership on the subcommittee and for his commitment to working with me on this and a host of so many other critical issues--issues critical to America's security.
Mr. Speaker, I also take this moment on the House floor to thank my Foreign Affairs staff, Sophie Mirviss, MENA staff director; professional staff member, Jack Steinberg; and of course, Casey Kustin, our former staff director.
Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago, a Hizballah suicide bomber blew up a bus in Burgas, Bulgaria. On that bus were 42 Israeli tourists, mostly young people. That day, Hizballah ended five lives and injured 32 others. In 2013, almost exactly 1 year later, the European Union took action to designate Hizballah's military wing as a terrorist organization.
But the inadvertent result of this designation was that a false distinction was made: a false distinction between Hizballah's military and political wings. Let me be clear, there are no different branches of Hizballah; it is in its entirety a terrorist organization.
You don't need to take my word for this. The United States Government makes no distinction between the organization's branches and includes Hizballah, in its entirety, on the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization List. But you also don't need to take our Government's word for it, or the word of Germany, Israel, Guatemala, Argentina, the United Kingdom, or the many other countries that have designated all of Hizballah, rightfully, as a terrorist organization. Take Hizballah's word for it. One of their own representatives in the Lebanese Parliament explicitly said, ``the military wing of Hizballah is inseparable from its political wing.''
It is a fact that Hizballah is one unified terrorist organization. An organization that, with support from the Iranian regime, has carried out horrific terror attacks around the globe and continues to spread violence and terror throughout the Middle East.
It is an Iranian terror proxy. The same Iranian regime whose President last night on American television deemed the reality of the Holocaust--deemed it false--denied the reality of the Holocaust. It denied Israel's very right to exist.
Iran-backed Hizballah consistently threatens Israel and its citizens with drones, missiles, threats of invasion, and undermines stability and economic opportunity in Lebanon. What's more, the organization supports the brutal Assad regime and is complicit in its murder of more than half a million people from the ongoing conflict in Syria.
The facts are clear: Around the world, Hizballah should be designated as a terrorist organization in its entirety.
That is why I stand in support of this resolution: as global partners of the United States and key players in the international rules-based order, the EU must designate all of Hizballah as a terrorist organization so we can increase global cooperation to isolate and dismantle this group.
I recognize there are legal concerns from our European friends that designating all of Hizballah as a terrorist organization could prevent support for the Lebanese people, as Hizballah has infiltrated the country's political system.
The EU rightful recognizes Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organization, despite that fact that Hamas operates as a political party in Gaza. This does not impact the EU's ability to support Gaza reconstruction, just as designating Hizballah as a whole would not prevent the EU from supporting the needs of the people of Lebanon, and the refugees inside Lebanon.
It is time for the EU to fix this false distinction once and for all, and the global momentum is on our side. In 2016, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League both designated Hizballah as a terrorist organization with no distinction between its political and military wings, despite Lebanon being a member of the Arab League. The EU should take note of that.
A full EU designation now would demonstrate Europe's commitment to cracking down on Iran's use of proxy terrorist groups, destabilizing the region, and attacking our shared national security priorities.
This resolution sends an important message to our European allies. More can and must be done to counter the Iranian proxy Hizballah, which begins with calling them what they are, a terrorist organization in its entirety that is committed to the destruction of our ally, Israel, and continues to undermine the values and interests of both the United States and Europe. It is time for the EU to join us in designating Hizballah in its entirety. A nearly identical measure passed the House in 2017 by voice vote.
Mr. Speaker, I came to Congress in April 2010 committed to standing up to Iran's malign activities, and support for Hizballah is a prime example. As I prepare to conclude my time in this Chamber, I urge my colleagues to continue to unite the world against Iran's terror proxies and to boldly take action to ensure Iran never has nuclear weapons; never forgets that the U.S. will always stand against its human rights violations, against its support for terror, against its anti-Semitism, against its call for Israel's destruction, against its unlawfully detention of Americans--Morad Tahbaz, Emad Sharghi, Siamak Namazi, Baquer Namazi, and refuses to bring closure to the family of Bob Levinson.
My colleagues, we must continue to stand up to Iran's aggression. Today's vote is a vote to urge our European allies to designate all of Hizballah--what it is--an Iran-backed terror proxy.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for their cooperation on this bill, and I thank them for their friendship all these many years.
