Hezbollah: Threat to the United Kingdom

Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee Excerpts

Tuesday 5th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I thank my friend, the noble Lord, Lord Godson, for bringing this important issue to the Floor of the House today and for his comprehensive introduction to this short debate. As someone who has lived with and through terrorism, I want to reflect, albeit briefly, on the nature of terrorist organisations and what must be done by democrats to fight them. Iran-backed Hezbollah is a vicious terrorist group that must be defeated.

There are three elements in the battle against terrorists. First, at a strategic level, democratic Governments must engage and destroy the narrative of the group. The noble Lord, Lord Godson, referred to this. Propaganda, of course, provides a strong crutch to these terrorist factions and in some cases allows them to justify their existence and operations to those who do not know better. I would like to see from the Government a stronger action plan—if there is an action plan at all—to deal with the claims put forward by Hezbollah and its proxies here in the United Kingdom. We should not just condemn their actions but deal with the narrative, including their ultimate goal of the eradication of Israel.

Secondly, at an operational level, we must erode and subvert the networks these organisations work through for money and support generally. Hezbollah, as we have heard, is a global terrorist and criminal organisation and works through often complicated systems to build its empire. We must do all we can to make it not just difficult but impossible for these people to work in the way they do at present. Sadly, without proscription of the IRGC in the UK, any threat of Hezbollah will continue to rise under its protection and support. I ask the Minister why the Government appear to have changed their stance on IRGC proscription since taking office in July.

Thirdly, at a tactical level we must be intelligence led to deter and prevent attacks not only here in the UK but across the world and particularly in our British Overseas Territories, such as our sovereign base in Cyprus. It is so important that we break up the terrorist infrastructure and reassure the public that they are being protected. In that regard, I pay tribute to our security services for all their unseen work in keeping us safe.

Strategic, operational and tactical: these are the three levels at which we must deal with terrorism whether domestically or internationally. Operationally and tactically, on the whole the UK Government and security services were good at dealing with the IRA and terrorism in general in Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, they did not deal with and challenge the narrative and the propaganda set up by terrorists and their spokespeople, and we still live with that legacy today.

I ask the Minister, who knows Northern Ireland very well, to bear the lessons of Northern Ireland in mind when dealing with the threat from Hezbollah. I ask him and his colleagues to engage and destroy the narrative of these evil men, to proscribe the IRGC and, by doing this, to take the propaganda rug from under their feet.