Analysis
Counterpoint: Why is Iran the Only One Talking Tough?
As officials from the P5+1 and Iran renewed negotiations, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was taking a hard line on the talks saying Tehran would not back down "one iota". Joshua Goodman asks Jan Techau (Director, Carnegie Europe) and Roland Freudenstein (Deputy Director, Centre for European Studies) if Khamenei's statement is an indication of the limited chance for a deal and whether it should, in fact, be the West taking such a hard line.
Have the Transatlantic Stars Aligned on Iran?
Europe and the U.S. have been bitterly divided these past four years on how to counter Iran’s regional and nuclear aggression. Writing in Newsweek, AJC Transatlantic Institute Director Daniel Schwammenthal argues that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden now has a unique opportunity to forge a united transatlantic front against Tehran. Germany’s sudden call for a robust follow-up deal to the JCPOA and France’s public censure of the regime for its murder of the journalist Ruhollah Zam are promising signs.
The Hezbollah Threat in Hungary and Policy Options for Counterterrorist Efforts
15 December 2020
By Zsolt Csepregi
There are currently numerous terrorist organizations posing significant dangers to European, including Hungary’s security, but none has such an easy access to resources and...
Briefing: Hezbollah in Europe
AJC and the Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) have produced an exhaustive, fact-based analysis that makes the case for the full designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. This brochure titled Hezbollah in Europe offers a more specific focus on our continent. It will...
Iran Is More Aggressive Than Ever Before
On 18 October the international arms embargo on Iran expired. The regime can now legally purchase upgraded and advanced weaponry. “This is bad news for the Middle East and sets the conditions for even more bloodshed,” writes AJC Berlin Director Remko Leemhuis in Switzerland’s biggest newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Germany, one of the JCPOA’s signatories, must live up to its special responsibility to help end Tehran’s quest for nuclear arms, its aggression in the region, and its support for terror proxies such as Hezbollah.
The Transatlantic Friends of Israel Meet on Hezbollah
Over 20 legislators from the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) network discussed the Hezbollah threat with leading Knesset Member Avi Dichter, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Michael Doran, and AJC Jerusalem Director Avital Leibovich. In light of Poland’s V4 Group presidency, TFI members Michał Jach, Chair of the Sejm's National Defence Committee, and Michał Kamiński, Deputy Speaker of the Polish Senate, hosted the exclusive virtual gathering in the presence of Israel’s ambassadors to Poland and Czechia.
Launch of Transatlantic Declaration Video: The EU Must Ban Hezbollah
AJC’s Transatlantic Institute and the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI), an inter-parliamentary group in the European Parliament with the goal of strengthening the trilateral partnership between the U.S., Israel...
Major News Outlets Cover Call for EU Ban of Hezbollah
On the anniversary eve of Hezbollah's bomb attacks in Argentina in 1994 and Bulgaria in 2012, the leadership of the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) presented to EU leaders a historic call for an EU ban of Hezbollah signed by over 240 lawmakers from 27 European countries, the U.S., Canada, and Israel. The declaration launch received wide coverage in the international media, including in POLITICO Europe, as well as in newspapers in the US, Germany, Poland, Italy, Bulgaria, the Baltics and of course Israel:
Webinar: Over 240 Lawmakers Call for EU Hezbollah Ban
On the twin anniversary eve of Hezbollah's bomb attacks in Argentina (1994) and Bulgaria (2012), the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI) called on the EU to finally ban the terror group. The declaration was covered by global media outlets including POLITICO Europe, The Hill, Die Welt, Gazeta Wyborcza and The Jerusalem Post. At the virtual launch event, TFI Chair MEP Lukas Mandl, TFI Vice Chair MEP Dietmar Köster, AJC Transatlantic Institute Director Daniel Schwammenthal, and the Washington Institute’s Hezbollah expert Matthew Levitt discussed the initiative’s impact. AJC CEO David Harris delivered concluding remarks.
It's Time for the EU to List Hezbollah as a Terror Organization
On 17 July, the eve of the anniversaries of Hezbollah's deadly bomb attacks in Argentina (1994) and in Bulgaria (2012), TFI Secretary General Daniel Schwammenthal and TFI Chair MEP Lukas Mandl co-authored an op-ed in Newsweek entitled "It's Time for the E.U. to List Hezbollah as a Terror Organization."
The Central European Case for an EU Hezbollah Ban
There is new momentum in Europe on tackling Hezbollah. After Germany banned the terror group in April, the Austrian parliament unanimously urged the EU to end the artificial distinction between the organization’s ‘military’ and ‘political’ wing. Writing in Poland’s major news outlet ONET, the Acting Director of AJC’s Warsaw-based office, Sebastian Rejak, argues that Central European countries could collectively tip the balance in the EU Council in favor of a total Hezbollah ban.