In July 2013, the European Union placed Hezbollah on its list of terrorist organizations. However, the EU had made a theoretical division within the organization, placing only Hezbollah’s "military wing" on the list of terrorist organizations, not the "political wing." Even though Hezbollah has been active in the EU and Germany for decades, Brussels has not yet placed the entire organization on the terror list, and Berlin has been reluctant to ban the organization. In Germany and the rest of the EU, little is known about Hezbollah’s activities despite the fact that Hezbollah would undoubtedly attack Israeli and Jewish institutions in Europe were there to be renewed confrontations with Israel or a conflict between the Jewish state and Iran.

In this briefing, we would like to provide information about Hezbollah’s beginnings, its ideology, and its activities in Germany and Europe. Only with sufficient background knowledge is it possible to carry out an informed political debate about Hezbollah, which still poses a threat to European domestic security.