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B’nai B’rith International renews our long-standing call for the European Union to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization following a report today by the Bulgarian government linking the terrorist group Hezbollah to the July 2012 attack in Burgas that left five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian dead, while wounding 30 others.
    
Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov informed top-level government officials today of the conclusions reached after six months of investigation. The report states the two individuals responsible for the attack entered Bulgaria with Canadian and Australian passports and their funding and forged documentation can be traced to Lebanon. Israel has long maintained that Hezbollah was behind the attack and this is the first confirmation by a European government that it was indeed the terrorist organization.

“We have well-grounded reasons to suggest that the two were members of the militant wing of Hezbollah,” Tsvetanov said at a press conference after a meeting of Bulgaria’s National Security Council. “We expect the government of Lebanon to assist in the further investigation.”

“It’s encouraging to see the Bulgarian government put the blame on Hezbollah for these murders when so many in Europe turn a blind eye to the group’s terrorist activities,” B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said. “Too often members of the EU conveniently ignore the violence of Hezbollah and insist it is merely a political organization. Hopefully this report will strip Hezbollah of any claim of legitimacy and finally allow people to see it for what it is—a violent and dangerous terrorist organization.”

While the United States, Israel, the Netherlands and Canada all list Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, the EU ignores that and instead continues to view Hezbollah as a political party as the group controls much of the Lebanese government and minimizes its terrorist activities.

“By releasing this report, the Bulgarians have made an important move in presenting the true face of Hezbollah to Europe,” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said. “The EU continually drags its feet on classifying Hezbollah as a terrorist organization when there’s so much evidence to the contrary. With Bulgaria now putting the blame on Hezbollah after a thorough investigation, the rest of the EU should remove its blinders and immediately designate Hezbollah for what it is.”