A new trend is spreading all over the world. More states one by one designate the Lebanese Shia group “Hezbollah”, also known as “Party of God”, as a terrorist organization. Governments in different world regions outlaw it, prohibit entry to its members, and impose sanctions without dividing the organization into political and military branches.
On November 20, Slovenia became the last in the list of countries that recognized the entire organization as terrorist formation. Not so long ago, the Estonian government imposed sanctions against Hezbollah. Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Latvia also support such a policy. Germany hesitated for a long time before recognizing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in April 2020. According to the reports, raft measures were implemented in the German regions; in particular, police raids on mosques took place in major cities in order to identify activity associated with the Shia organization.
The new relationship will quickly build new economic and military ties.
The GITEX technology week in Dubai in early December 2020 was a unique event as it came amid a global pandemic and aimed to show that a large tech confab could be held as countries are just beginning to receive vaccines. With some 1,200 exhibitors from sixty countries, the large event in the center of Dubai included unprecedented Israeli participation this year. It also had an inaugural UAE-Israel Future Digital Economy Summit.
In some ways the event was entirely normal, a reminder of a world before the coronavirus brought air travel to a halt in March of this year. I toured the events halls of GITEX and the Israeli presence, observing that the first time that Israel had participated appeared to fit well with the rest of the exhibitors.
Israel, Bhutan establish diplomatic ties
Reuters, TEL AVIV and RABAT
Israel on Saturday established relations with Bhutan, a majority-Buddhist nation neighboring India, as it looks to continue to expand its diplomatic links internationally.
Israel’s accord with the Himalayan country did not appear to be related to its budding ties under US-sponsored accords with Arab and Muslim countries, although Israeli officials sought to portray it as evidence of its growing acceptance abroad.
The agreement follows several years of secret contacts between Israel and Bhutan with the aim of establishing relations, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.