Israel urges India to ‘work hard’ to designate Hamas as terror group

TEL AVIV: Israel has urged India to move towards designating organizations operating against it, including Hamas, as terrorist groups, with senior Israeli officials saying that New Delhi’s stance carries significant regional influence.

Israel noted that it has already proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and expects “reciprocation” from India.

A senior official in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaking to reporters in Jerusalem, said there is an understanding within the Indian government of the “networks and linkages” connected to these groups.

“Our request from India is to work hard to sanction and designate these organizations as terrorist groups. Israel designated Lashkar-e-Taiba a couple of years ago, and we would like to see this reciprocated,” the official said.

The official indicated that ties between Hamas and LeT were “significant”, adding that Iran’s IRGC, Hamas and Hezbollah increasingly rely on transnational criminal networks to stage attacks worldwide.

“You’re not going to see an Iranian operative act directly in Europe. What you will see is a criminal group — a drug lord, a human trafficker or another network — connected to an Iranian handler who then carries out an attack, as we’ve seen in Scandinavia or in London,” the official in the Israeli foreign ministry said.

Stressing that even a declaratory designation by India would have a “strong global impact”, another official said neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Maldives “look up to India”, and New Delhi’s stance shapes regional responses.

“It’s not only about freezing assets or banning operatives from entering India. It signals that India has clearly seen what Hamas is doing, and no operative should step on Indian soil,” the official added. “We are putting pressure on India to designate Hamas... After having designated Lashkar-e-Taiba, we would like to see the same,” the official said. (ANI)

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