The Australian Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and Security on Tuesday unanimously recommended that the government’s Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrew designate the Iranian regime-backed Hezbollah’s entire organization a terrorist entity.
Australia has merely classified a so-called military wing of Hezbollah’s movement, the External Security Organization, as a terrorist organization.
“This is a mighty step in the right direction for Australia and reflects the seriousness with which the committee takes the deadly activities of Hezbollah,” said Dr. Colin Rubenstein, the executive director of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, about the parliamentary committee recommendation.
“I urge Minister Andrews to seriously consider the committee’s recommendations,” Rubinstein said. “This committee, which reached its recommendations unanimously, very rarely proposes a change to the minister’s decision when it comes to terrorism listings. The fact that it has recommended a change to the current listing needs to be respected.”
The council said in a statement that “over the past 18 years, AIJAC has consistently advocated for Hezbollah to be listed under Australia’s Criminal Code as a unitary organization. AIJAC has long argued that listing the Hezbollah ESO is not effective to protect Australia’s national security.”
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Liberal senator James Paterson said the committee was “concerned by the decision to, at this stage, only re-list Hezbollah’s ESO.”
He added that “in its last review of the re-listing of Hezbollah in 2018, the committee recommended that the government consider extending the listing to include the military wing of Hezbollah. In this report, the committee goes a step further. We recommend the government consider listing Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization.”
Paterson termed the division of Hezbollah into military and political wings “an arbitrary one.”
Australia’s governor-general makes the final decision based on government counsel on whether to classify Hezbollah’s full organization as a terrorist entity. Australia has listed al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab and Islamic State as terrorist organizations.
Both AIJAC, as well as the Zionist Federation of Australia and Executive Council of Australian Jewry, presented a written submission to the committee, stressing that “expanding the listing would be in Australia’s national interest.”
A full proscription of Hezbollah by Australia would mean it would follow its allies the US, UK and Canada, who are part of the Five Eyes security alliance and have previously banned Hezbollah’s entire movement.
AIJAC noted that, “three years ago, the last time the listing of the Hezbollah’s ESO was reviewed, the PJCIS recommended the Australian government extend Australia’s terrorist listing to the entirety of the military wing. That recommendation was not accepted by then-minister for home affairs Peter Dutton.”
“It is now the right time for the Australian government to list Hezbollah in its entirety,” Rubenstein said. “During the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas, we saw Australians flying Hezbollah flags on Sydney streets and read vile comments from Australians who support the murderous group on social media.”
“Hezbollah is known to be active in Australia, and a dual Australian-Lebanese Hezbollah operative was sentenced in absentia to life in prison in Bulgaria in 2020 for his role in a terrorist attack that killed six people, “AIJAC said. “Hezbollah, supported by its Iranian puppet masters, is also sworn to the destruction of Israel.”
Some 22 states, including the Arab League, have classified Hezbollah’s entire entity as a terrorist organization.
“The distinction Australia makes between the ESO and the rest of Hezbollah is arbitrary, wrong and repeatedly rejected by the Hezbollah leadership,” Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said. “The PJCIS recognizes this. We urge the minister to adopt the committee’s recommendation and proscribe the entire organization.”