The appalling attack on the Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green is a further reminder of the extremist threat the Jewish community faces.
A particularly urgent danger comes from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. But watching the current campaign to persuade the government to finally ban the IRGC, I feel a strong sense of déjà vu. A decade ago, a number of parliamentary colleagues and I fought an equally long, frustrating campaign to persuade the then-Conservative government to fully proscribe the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah.
This isn’t a party-political issue: both Labour and Conservative parliamentarians have worked closely together on both of these issues. But then, as now, we are facing appeasement and inaction in the face of the threat Tehran poses – to the UK’s national security and Jewish community, the wider region and, as we saw during January’s brutal crackdown, to the people of Iran.
The IRGC is the terrorist regime’s key weapon. It launches indiscriminate attacks on Iran’s regional neighbours, Israeli civilians and British servicemen and women, while menacing international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. It exports terror abroad through Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis while spearheading Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and ballistic missile programmes. It is the prime mover in crushing dissent at home, demonstrated most recently by its key role in the brutal massacre of 30,000 Iranian protesters in just a few days under the cover of an Internet blackout.
We know that the IRGC’s threat to Britain’s interests is direct and growing. Two men were charged last week with aiding Iran’s intelligence service by spying on locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community in London. As the director of MI5 stated last October, the security services have tracked more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots in the past year.
The IRGC has been repeatedly shown to spread antisemitism, radicalise young people and stoke community tensions. The former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, warned last year of the particular threat it poses to the Jewish community in Britain. And the IRGC is instrumental in the regime’s alliance with Moscow, helping to supply the ballistic missiles and UAVs with which Vladimir Putin is terrorising the Ukrainian people.
In opposition, Labour rightly recognised this threat. Citing the IRGC specifically, its manifesto said it “would take the approach used for dealing with non-state terrorism and adapt it to deal with state-based domestic security threats”. In office, the government has acted decisively: increasing sanctions on the IRGC and placing Iran, together with Russia, on the most stringent, enhanced tier of the new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme. It also commissioned the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, to look at how best to act against state-linked organisations such as the IRGC.
Hall’s recommendations, published last May, called for a new proscription-like tool to ban the IRGC. This goes further than imposing sanctions. It would target those in Britain who support, provide help for, and encourage others to support, the IRGC.
The government immediately accepted that recommendation. But, ten months on, we’re still waiting for the necessary legislation to be introduced. So why the delay?
Unofficial briefings have suggested banning the IRGC might further complicate the UK’s relations with Iran. They suggest proscription is complex because of the tight relationship between the IRGC and the government in Tehran. And they indicate various assorted geopolitical and national security concerns.
All of this is eerily reminiscent of the objections made to proscribing Hezbollah. We were, for instance, told that a ban would muddle our diplomatic ties with Lebanon. Utterly spurious arguments were made suggesting that Hezbollah’s political and military wings were somehow separate. And language about the government not commenting on national security and intelligence matters was deployed.
Eventually, after years of delay, Theresa May’s government acted decisively and banned Hezbollah. None of the dire consequences pushed by the opponents of proscription came to pass.
And none of the arguments made today against banning the IRGC – or used a decade ago with regard to Hezbollah – can escape the simple fact that many of our allies, including the US, Canada and Australia, have already taken the action that we are being asked to believe Britain shouldn’t or cannot take. Indeed, only last week Lebanon said it was banning all activities by the IRGC and deporting its members from the country.
The objections to proscribing the theocratic IRGC are spurious. Opponents do not address the nature of the Iranian regime, its hatred for Israel and the west, and the mix of lies and threats by which it conducts international relations. They are fearful of tackling Islamist extremism and radicalism – such as that promoted by the IRGC – here at home. The IRGC’s horrendous record cannot and must not be ignored.
Labour was right in opposition to want to see the IRGC proscribed. Nothing that has occurred since it took office has changed the core facts about the IRGC. It has demonstrated once again its brutality as a key part of an evil regime that shows no mercy in butchering its own civilians as well as exporting terror abroad. The government must ignore those who lack the courage to confront the IRGC and act decisively to ensure the activities of Tehran’s terror army are curtailed on our shores.
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