Lawmakers urge U.S. crackdown on Hezbollah financing networks
The group of 46 bipartisan House members called on the administration to employ sanctions as well as law enforcement, criminal prosecutions and diplomatic tools
OLIVER MARSDEN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
A bipartisan group of 46 House members, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), called on the administration on Monday to “fully utilize all the tools at its disposal to crack down on Hezbollah’s international financing network, including the imposition of sanctions,” as well as law enforcement, criminal prosecutions and diplomatic tools.
The letter, addressed to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Attorney General Merrick Garland, comes just over a week after a Hezbollah attack killed 12 children in the Golan Heights and as fears of escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and Iran hit new heights after the recent assassinations of a senior Hezbollah official in Lebanon and a top Hamas leader in Iran.
“We urge you to take further action to weaken Hezbollah’s access to financial resources used to carry out terrorism that threatens Americans, Israelis, and other allies around the world,” the lawmakers said. “It is imperative that the United States leads in this critical moment and protects its greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel.”
The lawmakers called on the administration to fully implement the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act, including sanctioning financial institutions processing and laundering Hezbollah’s money and any foreign government official or entity, including the Central Bank of Iran, that provides monetary support to Hezbollah.
They urged implementation of an executive order allowing the administration to sanction members of Hezbollah, to deter financial institutions and other businesses from transacting with the terrorist group.
Outside of sanctions, the lawmakers urged the administration to offer rewards for information on Hezbollah terrorists, to pursue the group as a drug trafficking entity, to prosecute Hezbollah for a variety of transnational criminal activity it uses to finance its operations, revive a law enforcement campaign targeting Hezbollah’s criminal activities known as Project Cassandra, pursue other similar law enforcement activities and pressure the Europe Union to fully designate Hezbollah as a terrorist group.
The letter was co-signed by Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Ann Wagner (R-MO), Darren Soto (D-FL), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Joe Wilson (R-SC), David Scott (D-GA), Wiley Nickel (D-NC), Don Davis (D-NC), Dina Titus (D-NV), Dean Phillips (D-MN), Don Bacon (R-NE), Jared Golden (D-ME), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Tom Kean (R-NJ), Marc Molinaro (R-NY), Angie Craig (R-MN), Lance Gooden (R-TX), Norma Torres (D-CA), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Brandon Williams (R-NY), Yadira Caraveo (D-CO), John Rose (R-TN), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ), Rudy Yakym (R-IN), Greg Stanton (D-AZ), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Susie Lee (D-NV), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Kathy Manning (D-NC), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Keith Self (R-TX) and Lois Frankel (D-FL).