Ric Grenell, former acting director of national intelligence in the Trump administration, told Newsmax on Friday all ties with Hezbollah should be ended, especially from the Brussels-based European Union.
Although many countries have banned ties with Hezbollah's military wing, which is backed by Iran, few in Europe also have ended ties with its political wing, which holds considerable sway in Lebanon. The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria are among European countries with total bans on Hezbollah.
"What he [former President Donald Trump] really pushed the Europeans to do is to ban Hezbollah, and the only country that we were able to get it done in was Germany," Grenell, former U.S. ambassador to Germany under Trump, told "Rob Schmitt Tonight" guest host Kimberly Guilfoyle.
"When I was ambassador there, we really pushed Chancellor [Angela] Merkel hard. She didn't want to do it, but President Trump made it a priority, and we got it done.
"I do believe that the rest of Europe, France, and all of the EU, starting with Brussels, should really reconsider the request that President Trump asked them to do: banning Hezbollah."
Israel has had clashes with Hezbollah on the Lebanese border since it went to war with Hamas following last month's terrorist attack. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Friday in his first speech since the attack that his group is ready to expand the conflict should conflicts with Israel escalate.
"All the possibilities on our Lebanese front are open," he said, The New York Times reported. "All the choices are available and we could resort to them at any time."
Nasrallah also had a warning for the U.S., which has deployed two Navy carrier strike groups to the eastern Mediterranean. Nasrallah said that should the U.S. intervene in the conflict, it can expect attacks on U.S. military bases and other targets in Iraq and Syria.
"Your fleets in the Mediterranean do not scare us and will never scare us," Nasrallah said. "Your fleets that you threaten us with, we are prepared for them as well."
Grenell said Nasrallah's comments are concerning.
"I think we all should be worried," he said. "You look at Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, and what his comments are and some of those comments are exactly what we're hearing on college campuses in the United States. It's very concerning to me that people don't see what's happening.
"This is a terrorist organization, and we need to be very clear about the fact that Israel tried in 2005 to remove itself, to leave Gaza to the Palestinian people, and the situation got worse. And now we're seeing exactly what's happening."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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