Mayor of London calls on home secretary to fully ban Hezbollah
Sadiq Khan has urged the Home Secretary to fully ban Hezbollah – becoming the most high-profile figure to do so in recent weeks.
The London Mayor confirmed to Labour London assembly member Andrew Dismore that he’d write to Amber Rudd after flags of the group were openly flown during the al-Quds parade in the capital last month, with the police taking no action.
Figures from across the political spectrum have called for a change in the law to proscribe the political wing, just as the military wing already is. Hezbollah – whose own leaders acknowledge the two wings are one in the same thing – is banned in full by the US, Canada and the Arab League.
The loophole in the law was exposed during the latest parade when organisers pinned disclaimers to the rifle-laden flags stressing specific support for the political wing.
Khan’s intervention comes two weeks after a bad tempered clash between the mayor and Conservative London assembly member Andrew Boff, who repeatedly urged him to write to Rudd on the issue. The mayor refused at the time to commit, saying only he’d assess other representations and make a decision at that point.
Boff said: “We welcome news that the mayor has finally been pressured into taking action against this appalling anti-Semitic organisation but why has it taken him weeks to do so?
“He is taking action now because he was asked again by a member of his own party and is under pressure to act.”
Conservative and Labour Friends of Israel are among those to have called for the government to proscribe the group. The Jewish Labour Movement also urged this in its pre-election manifesto.
