Australia’s position with Hezbollah to be considered
Following the U.K.’s decision to ban Hezbollah in its entirety, Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise has told media that the current situation in which Hezbollah military wing is banned in Australia but not its political wing will be up for discussion.
Minister Senator Marise Payne
Following is the transcript of her media conference in the UK.
JOURNALIST: Will you be discussing with him the UK’s ban on Hezbollah and is that something that Australia would consider following suit on?
FOREIGN MINISTER: I understand that there was debate and a decision on that in the House of Commons yesterday. And certainly I will seek the Foreign Secretary’s perspective on that and take that back with me to discuss with my colleagues.
JOURNALIST: Is that something Australia will be open to, going further on that?
FOREIGN MINISTER: We have measures in place, as you know, particularly in relation to the ESO and the criminal sort of threshold around criminal behaviour but I would want to look at that carefully with my colleagues.
ESO is Hizballah’s External Security Organisation,
The Australian Government first proscribed Hizballah’s External Security Organisation as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code on 5 June 2003. It was re-listed on 5 June 2005, 25 May 2007, 16 May 2009, 12 May 2012, 2 May 2015 and 2 May 2018.
Australian National Security describes Hizballah as follows:
The broader goals of Hizballah are the ‘liberation’ of Jerusalem, the destruction of Israel, and the establishment of a Shia-led Islamic state in Lebanon.
The ESO sits under the military wing of Hizballah: alongside, but distinct from, Hizballah’s formal militia and military activity. The ESO operates as a discrete branch or entity within Hizballah. ESO operations include procurement, intelligence, counterintelligence, surveillance, planning, coordination and execution of terrorist attacks against Hizballah’s enemies outside of Lebanon.
Editor’s note: The official Australian spelling is “Hizballah:
The Australian Government never takes the initiative, always waits cautiously to see which way USA or UK moves, then deigns to contemplate the matter.