Congressional Support Builds To Block Hizbullah Financing

A bill to block U.S. financial support to Hizbullah has garnered some 280 co-sponsors from both major parties, well over the majority needed for passage, The Jerusalem Post reports.

The new legislation, titled the Hizbullah International Financing Prevention Act of 2014 (HIFPA), broadens sanctions against Hizbullah by holding the foreign financial institutions that enable its activities responsible for its actions.

The bill provides the U.S. government with tools to target and impose sanctions on foreign banks that conduct business with Hizbullah and its collaborators. At the moment, the law only prevents American financial institutions from dealing with Hizbullah,  prohibitions which have the effect of driving Hizbullah into the arms of non-U.S. financial institutions.

Last month, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) and Marco Rubio (R-Florida), both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced HIFPA in the Senate, following its earlier introduction in the House by Congressmen Brad Schneider (D-Illinois), Mark Meadows (R-North Carolina), Eliot Engel (D-New York) and Ed Royce (R-California.)

The bill quickly found 280 co-sponsors, far exceeding the 218 needed for a majority — in the House of Representatives and 36 in the Senate.

This article appeared in print on page 7 of the June 23rd, 2014 edition of Hamodia.