Hezbollah, one of the world's most lethal terror organizations, has murdered scores of men, women, and children over the past 30 years with the blessing and/or at the request of its patron, Iran. Its agents have carried out terrorist attacks across five continents, wreaking havoc everywhere from Kenya to Argentina, from Greece to Thailand.

 

Despite Hezbollah’s proven criminal and terrorist record and the fact that a significant part of its income comes from global criminal activities - in particular activities involving EU citizens -  the EU only recognizes Hezbollah’s “military wing” as a terrorist organization, and constantly refuses to outlaw the organization as a whole, allowing it to remain legitimate and operational by default.

 

The panel will focus on the following:  

• Does the distinction between the military and the political wings actually exists? 

• What does "Hezbollah Europe" look like and how does it function? 

• How wide and deep is the organization embedded in Europe? 

• How big and significant is Hezbollah's EU operations in its overall scheme? 

• Why does Europe maintain its traditional position dealing with the organization? 

• And can we expect a shift of this that paradigm within the near future? 

The plenary session will begin with an international premiere of a global investigative documentary, produced on this topic by the Abba Eban Institute of International Diplomacy and the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism. The documentary will be followed by a keynote address by Ambassador Ron Prosor and an international experts-panel of experts that will try to map out the field and answer the questions.

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Panelists:

Chair: Ambassador Ron Prosor, Head of The Abba Eban Institute, IDC Herzliya, Former Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Former Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom & United Nations, Israel

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Dr. Eitan Azani, Deputy Executive Director, ICT and Head of BA & MA Specializations in Counter-Terrorism, Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy & Strategy, IDC Herzliya, Israel

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Mr. Yaniv Cohen, Executive Director, Abba Eban Institute of International Diplomacy, IDC Herzliya, Israel

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Dr. Matthew Levitt, Fromer-Wexler Fellow and Director, Reinhard Program on Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, United States

 

Dr. Magnus Ranstorp, Research Director, Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies (CATS), National Defence College, Sweden

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Moderator: Mr. Herb Keinon, The Jerusalem Post, Israel

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