Vice-Chairman of CFI Rt. Hon. John Howell OBE MP on Monday called for the Government to proscribe Hezbollah as a terror group “in its entirety”, following the Al-Quds Day march in London during the weekend in which the organisation’s flags were freely waved.
Speaking in a House of Commons debate on a Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill, Mr Howell said: “As we have discussed on many occasions, Hezbollah has long insisted that its military and non-military activities are indivisible. At the Al-Quds Day rally this weekend, we saw the waving of flags of the alleged non-military wing of Hezbollah, but Hezbollah in its entirety meets the test for full proscription, which would then make it subject to the Bill”.
He asked whether an amendment to the Bill might “proscribe the whole of Hezbollah”, underlining, “That would certainly send a strong message that, together with America, Canada and the Netherlands, we abhor terrorism in any form. It would also recognise that terrorist attacks on British interests overseas must be taken into account”.
Over a thousand people gathered outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Central London on Sunday for the annual anti-Israel Al Quds Day rally.
Once again, the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah’s gun-emblazoned yellow flags were waved throughout the streets during the march, alongside chants of ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ . The chant is widely seen as a call for the elimination of Israel.
Al-Quds Day, named for the Arabic word for Jerusalem, is an anti-Israel day of protest, first initiated by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.
Following last year’s march, Conservative parliamentarians have voiced concern at the public display of Hezbollah flags, and called on the Government to proscribe the terror organisation in its entirety.
