Government in Switzerland opposes the outlawing of Lebanon’s Hezbollah

The government in protested against the ban on Lebanon’s pro-Iran movement, while its introduction had preceded it to outlaw the Islamist Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip. Swiss parliamentary committees had called for Hezbollah to be outlawed, but in its reply given today to the public, the government in Switzerland considers that the conditions for this are not met. The Swiss government’s decision is announced on the second day of a fragile truce between the Israeli army and Hezbollah. The Federal Council (government) considers that one of the conditions laid down in Article 74 of the Information Act 2015 is not met, as the Lebanese movement has not been outlawed or sanctions have been imposed on it by the United Nations. Which rules out this legal route. As regards the second possibility that the Lebanese movement will be outlawed, the Federal Council considers “that it is not appropriate at present to outlaw Hezbollah by creating a new special law”. When drawing up a bill for Hamas to be outlawed, the Swiss government “responsiblely responded to the unprecedented attacks committed by Hamas on 7 October 2021”, the government recalls, in accordance with the practice of banning organisations on a case-by-case basis only “for extremely serious reasons”. The lower parliament’s Security Policy Committee stressed that “Hezbollah, like Hamas, is a radical Islamist terrorist organisation responsible for many acts of violence and human rights violations.” “The ideological and financial support offered to her by the Iranian regime clearly shows that it is not only directed against the state of Israel, but also a threat to the stability of the entire region,” the Commission added, calling for “active” measures. Parliament will consider the government’s position at its meeting from 2 to 20 December and will also vote on the Hamas ban bill, broadcast the Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS. The bill predicts Hamas to be outlawed for five years. The truce interrupts a war that began the day after Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on 7 October 2023. The war has cost thousands of people lives and has caused mass displacements in both Lebanon and Israel.