As American officials sound the alarm over what they call aresurgent threat from the Shiite militant group Hezbollah , thousands of its members and supporters operate with few restrictionsin Europe, raising money that is funneled to the group’s leadership inLebanon.
Washington and Jerusalem insist that Hezbollah is an Iranian-backed terrorist organization with bloody hands, and that it is working closely with Tehran to train, arm and finance the Syrian military’s lethal repression of the uprising there. Yet, the European Union continues to treat it foremost as a Lebanese political and social movement.
As Israel heightens fears of a pre-emptive strike on Iran ’s nuclear sites, intelligence analysts warn that Iran and Hezbollah would respond with attacks of their own on targets abroad. Israeli and American officials have attributed the Bulgarian bus bombing last month that killed six people, including five Israeli tourists, to Hezbollah and Iran, saying it was part of a clandestine offensive that has included plots in Thailand, India, Cyprus and elsewhere.
While the group is believed to operate all over the Continent, Germany is a center of activity, with 950 members and supporters last year, up from 900 in 2010, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said in its annual threat report. On Saturday, Hezbollah supporters and others will march here for the annual Jerusalem Day event,a protest against Israeli control of thatcity. Organizers told the Berlin police thatthe event would attract 1,000 marchers, and that two counterdemonstrations were also likely.
Hezbollah has maintained a low profile in Europe since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, quietly holding meetings and raisingmoney that goes to Lebanon, where officials use it for an array of activities — building schools and clinics, delivering social services and, Western intelligence agencies say, carrying out terroristattacks.
European security services keep tabs on the group’s political supporters, but experts say they are ineffective when it comes to tracking the sleeper cells that pose the most danger. “They have real, trained operatives in Europe that have not been used in a long time, but if they wanted them to become active, they could,” said Alexander Ritzmann, a policy adviser at the European Foundation for Democracy in Brussels, who has testified before Congress on Hezbollah.
The European Union’s unwillingness to place the group on its list of terrorist organizations is also complicating the West’s efforts to dealwith the Bulgarian bus bombing and the Syrian conflict. The week after the attack in Bulgaria, Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, traveled to Brussels for a regular meeting with European officials, where he called for the European Union to include Hezbollah onthe list. But his pleas fell on deaf ears.
“There is no consensus among the E.U. member states for putting Hezbollah in the terrorist-related list of the organizations,” EratoKozakou-Marcoullis, the foreign minister of Cyprus, which holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, said at the time. “Should there be tangible evidence of Hezbollah engaging in acts of terrorism, the E.U. would consider listing the organization.”
The Netherlands declared Hezbollah aterrorist organization in 2004, saying that it did not distinguish between the group’spolitical and terroristwings. Britain distinguishes between the parts, listing only the militant wing.
“The British see it as a tool: if you change we take it off the list,” Mr. Ritzmann said. “The French don’t think it’s smartto put them on the terrorist list because they’re such a political actor.”
Mr. Thamm said, “There is no unified common assessmentof Hezbollah.” He added, “And that is not something that will change in the foreseeable future.”
Skeptics here in Europe say that as Hezbollah has become more political the group has moved away from its terrorist past, if not forsaken it entirely, and that Israel is stoking fearsas it seeks to justify an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Some experts say that security officialson the Continent are resistant to blacklisting the group because they seem to see a tacit détente, where Hezbollah does not stage attacks and European law enforcement officialsdo not interfere withits fund-raising and organizational work.
“There’s a fear of attracting Hezbollah’s ire and eventually inviting Hezbollah operations in their own countries,” said Bruce Hoffman, a professor of security studies at Georgetown and a terrorism expert.
“Why pick up a rock and see what’s under it?” he asked.
US warns Hezbollah may strike in Europe
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1219420/1/.html
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=280819

Europe has long been more tolerant of militant Islamic groups than the United States. Beforethe 9/11 attacks, Al Qaeda maintained a media information office in London. Much of the planningand organization forthe attacks took place in Hamburg, Germany, where the plot’s leader, Mohamed Atta, lived.

The prisoner volunteered to help the guards murder the others
in the hope that he would be the last to die.