EU court orders removal of Hamas from EU terror blacklist

The Hamas charter is not evidence enough of terrorism for the Europeans...

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has removed Hamas from the EU list of terror organizations but temporarily maintained the blacklist measures for a period of three months or until an appeal was closed, giving EU member states time to provide more evidence for Hamas's inclusion on list. The EU list of terror organizations is reviewed every six months.

The Court said the contested blacklist measures were not based on an examination of Hamas's acts but on imputations derived from the media and the Internet. The court said it was nevertheless maintaining the effects of the measures in order to ensure that any possible future freezing of funds would be effective.

Hamas was added to the terror list in 2003 following a push by Israel and the US to have the Islamist terror group - whose charter pledges to destroy Israel and calls for a genocide against the Jewish people - recognized as such in Europe. However, after the Court of Justice removed the Sri Lankan terror group the Tamil Tigers from the list a few months ago, Hamas followed suit and appealed on the same grounds of a ‘’lack of legal evidence to brand Hamas a terror organization.’’

A source within the EU said that the decision was ‘’not political, but rather deals with a technical claim made by Hamas.’’ The source also said that the EU will most likely ask for further evidence prior to making any final decisions. Israel and the EU said that the change will not have an effect on the group's position as a terror group in Europe as the court will be given a few months to rebuild the file against Hamas with evidence that will enable the Gaza-based group to remain on the list of terror organizations. Some European countries have already started gathering intelligence information to build a strong case against Hamas.

More: EJP (an excellent article by Yossi Lempkowicz who is based in Brussels)