Israel goes to the UN to define Hizballah as a 'terrorist organisation'

Israeli diplomats are making a new push to have Hizballah, the Lebanese Shia movement declared a "terrorist organisation" by the UN.

Danny Danon, Israel's UN ambassador who recently organised a five-day tour of Israel's northern border for a group of 40 UN ambassadors, has pointed to "attack tunnels" running from Lebanon into Israel as evidence.

Hizballah is a political party and militant group based in Lebanon and backed by Iran, Israel's number one regional enemy.

"While Israel's excuse for this action is that Hezbollah has violated its sovereignty by digging cross-border tunnels, Israel violates Lebanon's sovereignty on a daily basis through air reconnaissance sorties and occasional incursions into Lebanon's territorial waters and breaches of the UN demarcation lines," said The New Arab's Karim Traboulsi.

He further stated that Israel's bid is "a diplomatic stunt" unlikely to achieve results in the UN where powerful states such as Russia and China support Hizballah and many member states hesitate to support Israel "on account of its long record of occupying, invading, and devastating its neighbours".

Israeli media have reported Danon's bid is likely to be supported by several UN delegates.

Danon told i24NEWS the delegation was "shocked" when they saw Hizballah’s attack tunnels on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Israel discovered and destroyed six tunnels in operation "Northern Shield" that ended last month. 

Hizballah is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Israel, Canada, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council. The UK, EU and Australia only consider its military wing, and not the political party, as falling under this category.

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