A new law passed by majority vote in the lower House calls for banning all activities of Shiite-Lebanese terrorist organization • "Hizbullah activates violence and terrorism"

• "Hizbullah denies Israel's right to exist" // Photo: Ai. Though

Germany's Lower House of Representatives, the Bundestag, passed a majority vote calling for a ban on all Hezbollah Hezbollah terrorist activities in Germany. In 2013, EU countries, including Germany, declared only the Hizbullah military arm as a terrorist organization, and continued to recognize the political arm of the organization as a legitimate political body.

The Bundestag decision today, which was put to the vote by the two coalition parties, the Conservative Union and the Social Democrats, in collaboration with the Liberal Opposition Party calls on the government to ban all Hezbollah representatives on German soil and eliminate the separation between the military wing and the political wing. The proposal was also widely supported by the right-wing nationalist opposition party "Alternative to Germany".

"The Bundestag passed by a majority of votes" // Photo: Reuters

A similar decision initiated several months ago by the "Alternative to Germany" party was rejected by the coalition parties on the grounds that Hizbullah's political arm ban in Lebanon would complicate Lebanon's political situation and Germany's relations with this country.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called for a resolute action against Hezbollah in Germany before the Bundestag vote. Hezbollah denies Israel's right to exist, engages in violence and terrorism, increases its arsenal of missiles and provides assistance to the brutal suppression of the Assad regime in Syria.

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"The political reality is complicated, it should not prevent us from exhausting in Germany the legal measures against the Hezbollah terrorist activity," said Maas.

Despite the important decision, Germany still serves as one of the focus of Hezbollah's organized crime activity, especially with regard to drug trafficking, money laundering, weapons acquisition and forgery.