B’nai B’rith International is outraged the European Court of Justice ruled that the terrorist group Hamas must be removed from the European Union terror list. The court instructed Hamas to be removed on “procedural grounds,” saying in a statement that the European body did not place Hamas on the list after examining the organization’s leadership decisions and actions, but because of “factual imputations derived from the press and the internet.”

Even though this ruling has been declared a technical matter by the European External Action Service (EEAS), it will unacceptably open the door to the questioning of Hamas’ existence as a terrorist group. There should be no question that Hamas is an organization that’s mandate is terror and which has a repeatedly-stated commitment to the destruction of Israel. The court’s conclusion that Hamas was placed on the terror list simply due to media reports is absurd.

B’nai B’rith urges all parties affected by this ruling to act quickly in relisting Hamas as a terrorist organization. The court continued a freeze on Hamas’ assets in Europe, as well as other restrictions placed on the terror group for a three-month span to allow for an appeal or other action by the EU. B’nai B’rith encourages the EEAS to proceed accordingly, and with urgency, in order to help move the European Court of Justice toward resolving this matter. If there is no expeditious effort to relist, it would be another blatant example of the hypocritical and deeply unconstructive manner in which Israel is often treated in the EU.