Australian Muslims like Hezbollah



The Federal Government's Muslim Community Reference Group will decide today whether to ask Prime Minister John Howard to remove Hezbollah from a list of terrorist organisations. The group of Muslim leaders is to meet today to discuss whether to write to Mr Howard seeking the controversial change.

But any call for the Government to alter its position on Hezbollah, which has been at war with Israel for the past three weeks, appears to be futile. Mr Howard made it clear yesterday the Government did not intend to remove the militant arm of Hezbollah from its official list of terrorist groups. "No chance, full stop. No chance at all," Mr Howard said.

But Ameer Ali, chair of the Muslim reference body set up last year after the London bombings, said Hezbollah should not be lumped in with groups like al-Qaeda. He said Hezbollah is a legitimate part of Lebanese politics, and Australia's assessment of Hezbollah is clouded by the US and Israel. "They should not condemn Hezbollah as a terrorist group," Dr Ali said. "I don't think they should judge that they are simply a terrorist organisation like al-Qaeda."

On its national security website, the Government said ASIO believes Hezbollah's military wing is continuing to plan activities involving threats to human life and serious damage to property. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the decision to ban Hezbollah, first listed in 2003 as a terrorist organisation, was not made lightly. But he said the Government would be willing consider any new information which could prompt it to reassess the listing.

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