British Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott sent a briefing note to Labor MPs urging them to oppose a move to ban Hezbollah in UK.

Abbott on Thursday ordered Labor MPs to oppose the motion, saying she wanted to “encourage” the group (Hezbollah) to become democratic.

Currently only the military wing of Hezbollah is classed as a “terrorist group” but a Labor MP led a Commons debate arguing for the whole resistance group to be banned.

Ahead of the debate the Shadow Home Secretary sent a briefing note to Labor MPs urging them to not to back the motion because it would hinder peace talks in the Middle East.

“There is a balance between making absolutely clear our abhorrence of using violence to achieve political ends and at the same time encouraging organizations down an effective democratic path,” the briefing said, according to The Sun.

“Full proscription could be a move against dialogue and meaningful peace negotiations in the Middle East.”

Jennifer Gerber, head of Labor “Friends of Israel”, slammed the Labor frontbench for actively ordering its MPs to block the banning of Hezbollah.

“It is sadly unsurprising that the Labor frontbench would issue a statement on Hezbollah which fails to support banning the terror group in its entirety,” Gerber said.

Source: The Sun