EU Removes Hamas from Terror List Due to ‘Paperwork’

The European Union has removed Hamas from its list of terror groups after a court ruled that the correct paperwork had not been filed. According to a decision Wednesday, the Palestinian group, which has murdered hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians in suicide bombings, rocket attacks, and executions, was listed as a result of “factual imputations derived from the press and the Internet,” instead of investigation by EU bureaucrats.

As a result, the General Court of the European Union ruled, the military and political wings of Hamas, which were added to the list in 2001 and 2003, respectively, must be dropped from the list of terror organizations until the right “paperwork” is completed, the Times of Israel reports. 

However, the decision provides that Hamas funds in the EU remain frozen for three months until the EU decides to list it again based on its own findings, not those of the U.S. or media reports.

The Israeli government, which spent the summer defending Israeli civilians in a war Hamas started, was outraged by the EU’s decision. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated: 

We are not satisfied with the European Union’s explanation that the removal of Hamas from its list of terrorist organizations is a ‘technical matter’. The burden of proof is on the European Union and we expect it to put Hamas back on the list forthwith given that it is understood by all that Hamas–a murderous terrorist organization, the covenant of which specifies the destruction of Israel as its goal–is an inseparable part of this list. We will continue to fight Hamas with strength and determination so that it never achieves this goal.

The EU has often been slow to list violent anti-Israel militias as terror groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Senior Editor-at-Large Joel B. Pollak edits Breitbart California and is the author of the new ebook, Wacko Birds: The Fall (and Rise) of the Tea Party, available for Amazon Kindle.

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