Open Letter to Lady Ashton regarding Hezbollah

Dear Lady Ashton,

On 5 February 2013, Bulgarian authorities released the findings of their official enquiry regarding the deadly bomb attack at Burgas airport on 18 July 2012, in which five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver were killed.

Bulgarian Minister of Interior Tsvetan Tsvetanov blamed the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah for the terrorist attack. He declared: “We have established that the two were members of the militant wing of Hezbollah.” He added: “There is data showing the financing and connection between Hezbollah and the two suspects.”

As you know, Hezbollah has a long record of terrorist activities against, amongst others, European and Jewish targets around the world. We would remind you of the bombing in 1993 of buildings housing French and US military forces-members of the Multinational Force in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 299 French and American servicemen, as well as the bombing in 1994 of the AMIA Jewish Center building in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 85 people and injuring hundreds more.

On behalf of the European Jewish Parliament (EJP), we urge the European Union to condemn immediately and unreservedly Hezbollah and add it to the EU list of designated terrorist organizations. The time has come for the European Union to respond appropriately to Hezbollah’s terrorist activities. What is at stake is nothing less than to allow or not a terrorist attack on EU territory to go unpunished.

Sincerely yours,

Vadim Rabinovich, Co-Chairman of the European Jewish Parliament

Joel Rubinfeld, Co-Chairman of the European Jewish Parliament