Rt. Hon. John Whittingdale OBE MP called for the Home Secretary to “urgently” consider a full ban on the Hezbollah terror organisation, following the “distressing” open display of Hezbollah flags in London the Al-Quds Day rally over a week ago.
Speaking in a debate on Brexit and Foreign Affairs in the House of Commons on Monday, the former Culture Secretary asserted: “Given the distress that was caused by seeing the flags paraded through London, and people calling for the extermination of Israel and supporting what is a terrorist organisation, I hope she will look at that matter urgently”.
Mr Whittingdale said that he welcomed the counter-terrorism review that the Government has initiated, but that “many people were quite distressed to see in the streets of London very recently the flags of Hezbollah in the Al-Quds Day rallies”.
The MP for Maldon underlined that “Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation”. He added: “The military wing is already proscribed in this country, but there is frankly very little distinction between it and the so-called civilian wing, the political wing. I know the Home Secretary has said she will look at this. It is already proscribed in many countries such as the United States, Canada and the Netherlands”.
Last week, Home Secretary Rt. Hon. Amber Rudd MP said she would “consider” banning Hezbollah in its entirety, after Conservative parliamentarians Robert Jenrick MP and CFI Honorary President Lord Polak CBE MP raised strong concerns.
Watch Mr Whittingdale’s speech in the video below:
