Britain’s terrorism ban on all parts of Hezbollah came after intense lobbying by pro-Israel groups within Westminster, according to a former UK foreign minister and Tory peers.
Hezbollah’s External Security Organisation and its military wing had already been proscribed in the 2000s.
But in 2019, Theresa May’s government took the decision to proscribe the group in its entirety on the basis that it was “no longer tenable to distinguish between the military and political wings of Hezbollah”.
Just a year earlier May’s cabinet had defended the distinction and refused to ban Hezbollah’s political wing, which holds ministerial posts in Lebanon’s government. However the policy shifted once Sajid Javid, a staunchly pro-Israel MP, became home secretary.
Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely has called Javid “a very special friend” and said his “friendship is one of the greatest things that happened for the Israel-UK relationship”.
Hezbollah (meaning “Party of God”) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political and paramilitary group.
Its political bloc won 15 seats in the Lebanese parliament at the 2022 elections and is also part of the country’s government, holding two seats in its cabinet.
Yet Israel is conducting a major attack on Lebanon under the guise of targeting Hezbollah, with air strikes killing 500 people on Monday and a ground invasion being threatened.
Last week Israeli intelligence detonated pagers and radios belonging to Hezbollah, with 42 killed and thousands injured. Former CIA director Leon Panetta said Israel’s booby trapping of the pagers was “a form of terrorism”.
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‘It took us ages with Hezbollah’
An all out ban on Hezbollah was always controversial because of the group’s position in running Lebanon, which is a UK ally. The Conservative government eventually took the decision under pressure from groups and individuals who are well connected in Israel.
In an interview in August 2023, Lord Stuart Polak, referring to the push to proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said, “I think what we need to do is just pure lobbying action.”
He added: “It will happen and I think a number of people have said it’s just how long it takes for it to happen. It took us ages with Hezbollah. Again, why? Because I think it’s just easier for civil servants not to change.”
The “us” Polak was referring to is likely Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), a powerful Westminster lobby group that does not divulge its funders but claims 80% of Tory MPs are members.
Polak is honorary president of the organisation and was its director for 25 years.
When Hezbollah’s proscription was debated in the Lords in February 2019, Polak spoke strongly in favour. He took a swipe at then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, saying: “Very few of us would call Hezbollah our friend.”
Another Tory peer, Eric Pickles, who was CFI’s leader in the Lords, told the chamber on the same day that in 2019 he wanted to “pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Polak, who has been a champion of this over a number of years and has kept this issue in the minds of both Houses of Parliament. He deserves considerable credit for arriving at this decision.”
A proscribed group in Britain “is an organisation or group that is illegal to join or show support for, because it has been identified as being concerned in terrorism”, according to the police.
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‘Sterling efforts’
The ban on Hezbollah was strongly supported by several MPs associated with Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), who were particularly keen to stop the Lebanese group’s flag being flown in London at an annual pro-Palestine march.
When the ban was debated in the House of Commons in 2019, LFI chair Joan Ryan took credit for her role in highlighting the issue. She also praised fellow MP Louise Ellman “for her sterling efforts to ensure proscription and end the annual travesty of the flags of an antisemitic terror group being paraded on the streets of London.”
Ellman and Ryan were both staunch critics of Corbyn, with Ryan having quit Labour days before the debate citing alleged anti-semitism in the party. Corbyn’s front bench did not oppose the ban, with shadow home secretary Diane Abbott staying silent throughout the debate.
Scrutiny of the ban was left to a handful of other politicians. Crispin Blunt, a former chair of the foreign affairs committee, highlighted how Hezbollah at that stage had “13 out of the 68 members of parliament” in Lebanon’s governing coalition.
He warned the ban might not be in Britain’s interests, saying, “we have to engage with the practical reality that Hezbollah does have at the moment, regrettable though that may be, a very significant amount of the popular support in Lebanon.”
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‘Sucking up to CFI’
At the time of the proscription Sir Alan Duncan was UK foreign minister for the Americas and Europe. His diaries add more evidence of the key role the Israel lobby played in getting this legislation through the UK parliament.
In June 2018, Duncan wrote that Javid “wants to ban Hezbollah – or at least their political wing – in the UK.” He continued that the group’s “actions are to be condemned whenever they turn to violence, but the thing about a political wing is that it gives you someone to talk to when trying to solve historic problems. Banning them closes down that option.”
“You’d have thought our IRA experience would give us a clue,” he concluded, referring to how Britain did not ban its political affiliate Sinn Féin during the Troubles. “It’s not as if he [Javid] knows anything much about international relations, but it is quite clear who has got to him.”
Duncan, who did not respond to a request for comment, is assumed here to be referring to CFI and Polak.
Later in September 2018, Duncan notes a conversation he had with the then foreign secretary. “Jeremy Hunt confides in me that he’s about to make a decision I won’t like,” he wrote.
“He will agree to the proposal for the Home Office to proscribe Hezbollah. I think it plays into the Netanyahu/Kushner playbook and will remove essential intelligence for us in Lebanon, but he hints that he has to do it in order to preserve our robust stand on Iran and hence to support the Iran nuclear deal. It’s a trade-off designed to protect bigger equities.”
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‘Nutty mania’
At the time, the British government was at odds with the Trump administration over the Iran nuclear deal which America wanted to bin. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, was particularly hostile to Iran.
“I see the point and respect his directness with me,” Duncan writes of Hunt. “The trouble is…we conceded to the US and all they will do is take more and never say thank you. We are being played by nutty mania, and we are compromising our integrity.”
In February 2019, the Israel lobby finally achieved its goal.
“Sajid Javid bans Hezbollah,” Duncan wrote on 26 February. “They are ‘terrists’. Their ‘terrist’ activity is deplorable,” he added in a mocking tone.
Javid “is inarticulate and just sucking up to the CFI, who are out in force behind him reading out their scripted interventions,” Duncan noted.
“Polak and Pickles are in the Peers’ Gallery gloating from above about having deployed their Commons troops in Israel’s cause. We are supposed to be Great Britain, but I fear we are too willing to let others pull our strings.”
Pickles has confirmed he monitored the Commons debate, telling the Lords: “I took the opportunity to go into the Gallery of another place and watch the proceedings.”
However, not all politicians associated with pro-Israel lobby groups backed the ban. Labour’s Lord Glasman declared his interest as a member of LFI before disputing Polak’s position on Hezbollah.
Glasman told parliament Hezbollah had been on “a remarkable journey over the last 20 years: it has joined the political and democratic process; it is the largest single party in Lebanon and got 300,000 votes, which is 100,000 more than any other party; and it has played a key role in brokering a broad-based coalition government there.”
He added: “It has not been mentioned today, but Hezbollah played a significant role in restoring the synagogue in Beirut…I ask the House to reflect that maybe it would be foolish to block conversation and possible negotiation with Hezbollah.”
