United Kingdom Home Secretary Priti Patel announced on 19 November plans to proscribe all elements of the Gaza Strip’s rulers Hamas as a terrorist organization under the parliament’s Terrorism Act. Days later, Australian Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said that her government would apply the same label to all branches of Lebanon-based Hezbollah.
HonestReporting has collated and analyzed coverage of London and Canberra’s decisions from English-language state-backed media outlets from across the Middle East to show how the designations have affected loyalties between key regional players as well as their stance towards Hamas and Hezbollah.
Sunni Islamist movement Hamas is responsible for a litany of crimes, including initiating the May conflict with Israel by firing a barrage of rockets towards Jerusalem, and for repressing the Palestinians who live under its regime in Gaza.
Hezbollah is a Shi’ite group with a similarly violent record, such as recently orchestrating the fatal clashes in Lebanon’s capital in October in the hopes of derailing a judicial probe into the organization’s alleged involvement in the devastating Beirut Port explosion in 2020. It also has been accused of supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, providing fighters and oil – the latter of which further damaged Lebanon’s imploding economy – and of amassing weapons on Lebanon’s southern border that are earmarked for aggression against Israel.
Both organizations are supported by Iran, while Hamas is additionally known to receive help from Turkey (see here and here).
The recent designations by London and Canberra required both governments to recognize that the “political” wings of the two groups are complicit in the acts of terror that are carried out by their “armed” wings.
In the UK, a maximum of 14 years in prison and or a fine is the penalty for belonging to or supporting one of the proscribed organizations. Australia similarly criminalizes such associations.
London had fully labeled Hezbollah as a terrorist organization as of March 2019, acknowledging in its terrorism list that “[Hezbollah] itself has publicly denied a distinction between its military and political wings” and therefore, “the group in its entirety is assessed to be concerned in terrorism.”
Only Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the movement’s military wing, is currently recognized by Canberra as a terrorist organization. “The Brigades are structured as a distinct military wing separate from Hamas’s other structures, which include its Political Bureau and security agencies,” Australia’s official explanation states, adding: “Accordingly, the Brigades operate with a significant degree of independence in their decision making.”
This is in stark contrast to Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan, the US, and now, the UK, which all classify the entirety of the group as a terrorist entity.
The recent designations are reportedly a result of lobbying by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who, at the global climate summit in Glasgow last month, urged his Australian and British counterparts, Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson, to commit to proscribing both groups.
Bennett later tweeted his support for the decisions (see here and here).
The Designees Scramble to Each Other’s Defense
Following London’s move, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh protested that it is a doomed policy in a 21 November statement published on the group’s official website. Haniyeh contended that “many international parties declared that the Palestinian issue would not be solved without Hamas on the table” and that “his movement is prepared to ‘open dialogues’ with any country worldwide, except for the Israeli occupation.”
Hezbollah immediately rallied around Haniyeh via its official Al-Manar news outlet. In a November 20 article, the organization expressed support for a national campaign mounted by a coalition of Palestinian resistance factions for “a popular conference in [the] face of the UK decision to label Hamas Movement as a terrorist group.” Hezbollah also called on the UK to reverse its decision and pushed the Arab League to reject it.
It is not entirely clear which Palestinian factions have joined forces to overturn London’s designation. However, a joint statement published on Hamas’ website on November 20, claimed some groups support the notion that “Hamas is a genuine and integral component of the Palestinian national liberation movement, and the Palestinian people will not allow any party to harm any of its components.”
The coalition went on to brand the UK’s decision an extension of British colonial policy, asserting London was acting in “subservience to a fascist, racist state [Israel], against the position of the majority of the British people, who oppose the Israeli occupation and its crimes.”
Following the announcement by Australia, Hamas jumped to Hezbollah’s defense using the same logic. An official statement from Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said that Hamas condemned the decision against Hezbollah and that it “considers the decision a blatant bias in favor of the Israeli colonial occupation and to cover up for its terrorism and continuous aggression against our Arab and Islamic nation, foremost Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine.
“Such hollow decisions,” Qassem added, “will not discourage the Palestinian and Arab resistance, led by Hamas Movement and Hezbollah, from carrying out their duty to resist the brutal occupation and to confront its presence in the Arab land by all means.”
Hezbollah’s official Al-Manar news agency on 25 November reported that the organization considered Australia’s move “a humiliating submission to the US-Zionist dictations and a blind involvement that serves the Israeli interests and policy based on terror, murder and massacres.”
In another article, Al-Manar referred to the criticisms of two other Iran-supported groups, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Yemen’s Shi’ite Houthi rebels while claiming “Hezbollah’s Resistance is a legitimate act guaranteed by international and national laws.”
Islamic Jihad warned Australia’s designation “would rather increase [Hezbollah’s] determination to ‘go ahead with resisting the Zionist enemy.’” The Political Bureau of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah described it as a “criminal move that serves the Zionist entity.”
The Sponsors Sound Alarms
Iran’s state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on the tweets of Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in which he criticized the UK government. “We condemn the UK’s decision to declare the popular resistance movement of HAMAS a terrorist organization,” the top Iranian diplomat wrote, adding that the “rights of Palestinians cannot be trampled on by distorting facts. The only political solution for Palestine lies in holding a referendum among all indigenous residents.”
IRNA then reported on November 22 the statement of the Secretary-General of the Palestine Foundation of Pakistan, Dr. Sabir Abu Maryam, who championed Hamas as “the lifeline of Palestine as well as the entire Islamic world.” Among other things, Abu Maryam lauded Hamas as “the true representative party of the people of Palestine” and slammed the UK as responsible for the creation of the “illegal state of Israel on the Palestinian land,” while accusing London of “covering up Israeli terrorism.” He also announced that everyone calling Hamas terrorists is guilty of being a terrorist themselves.
The Tehran Times, which is owned by the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization, then contended in a 27 November report that the move by Australia was because Hezbollah plays a role “in Lebanese politics… [and] has members in parliament and helps with the government formation… [and has] played a major role in liberating Lebanon from Israeli occupation.”
The newspaper promoted the conspiratorial and antisemitic narrative that “analysts argue that Israeli lobby groups are in the pockets of many western politicians which in essence means Israeli lobbying is working on behalf of British, American or Australian foreign policy.”
The Islamic Republic has repeatedly called for the eradication of Israel and is one of the world’s foremost state-sponsors of terrorism. It financially supports Hamas and Hezbollah to extend destabilizing proxy conflicts across the Middle East.
For its part, Turkish media was relatively restrained in its commentary about Australia’s move. In a 24 November piece about Canberra’s designation, the state-run Anadolu Agency cited Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews as telling the Australian parliament that there is no place “for violent, hateful ideologies” in the country.
Anadolu repeated common criticisms of the Lebanese group and cited Saudi Arabia’s claims that Hezbollah was “sending fighters to Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition fights another Iran-aligned group.” It also further accused Hezbollah of having “sent fighters in Syria’s civil war to support the Assad regime” and of “blocking [an] investigation into the devastating 2020 Beirut port explosion.”
On Hamas though, Anadolu struck a more sympathetic chord in its reportage. A 21 November article, for example, cited the dissent against the UK’s designation of 75 members of Jordan’s 130-seat House of Representatives. The agency quoted a statement from the legislators which said that the UK’s decision was a “reward to the Zionist [Israeli[ occupation which kills the Palestinian people… and besieges the people of Gaza.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has in the past offered his country as a safe haven for Hamas’ leadership.
Western Alignments
From Saudi Arabia, the government-backed newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat published an article titled, Saudi Arabia Welcomes Australia’s Designation of Hezbollah as Terrorist Group. “The Saudi Foreign Ministry stressed on Saturday the importance of this step in strengthening international peace and security,” the report said, “and urged the international community to take a similar stance to confront terrorism and terrorist groups around the world.”
In a 19 November article, Asharq Al-Awsat reported that the UK “had banned the Palestinian group Hamas in a move that brings the UK’s stance on Gaza’s rulers in line with the United States and the European Union.” It also quoted a British official as stating that “Hamas has significant terrorist capability, including access to extensive and sophisticated weaponry, as well as terrorist training facilities.”
Saudi Arabia is a key US ally and relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem have noticeably warmed since the onset of the Trump administration-brokered Abraham Accords between Israel and other Arab nations. Saudi Arabia is also one side of an ongoing proxy war against Iran that is mostly centered in Yemen.
As for the United Arab Emirates, the state-owned Khaleej Times recently published a report on Australia’s decision against Hezbollah. The newspaper quoted Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews as saying that the Iran-backed Shi’ite group “continues to threaten terrorist attacks and provide support to terrorist organizations” and poses a real and credible threat to Australia.
“Hezbollah has been designated as a terrorist group by parts of the West, although some countries have been reluctant to sanction the group’s political wing, fearing it could destabilize Lebanon and hamper contacts with authorities,” the Khaleej Times added.
The Dubai-based Gulf News outlet, which is owned by a UAE government minister and cabinet member, published a report on 19 November summarizing the UK’s move to ban Hamas. The article quotes British Home Secretary Priti Patel as calling Hamas “fundamentally and rabidly anti-Semitic,” and adding her decision was required “to protect the Jewish community.”
The Gulf News emphasized that “politically, [the decision] could force Britain’s main opposition to take a position on Hamas, given strong pro-Palestinian support on the hard left of the Labour party.”
Dubai signed a peace deal with Israel in 2020 under the Abraham Accords and news continues to emerge from top officials from both countries about the success of negotiations and the potential of increased cooperation.
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