EU Court Upholds Hamas Terror Listing

The top court in the European Union has ruled that Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip, should stay on the EU terrorism blacklist. Hamas was initially listed by the EU as a terror group in 2001, but that ruling was annulled in 2014 based on the argument that there had been insufficient evidence in 2001 to ban travel and freeze all of the organization’s assets in EU member states. The court found in 2014 that the 2001 decision was too largely based on media reports instead of legal arguments. The reversal ignited outrage in both Washington and Israel. In this week’s ruling, the court said the annulment was premature and should be reconsidered. The U.S. also classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization.