Biden administration to remove five terror groups from US blacklist

Middle East, News, US May 19, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

U.S. is set to remove five extremist groups from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO). United States Department of State believes that these organizations are not functional anymore.

The U.S. State Department notified Congress about its move through a statement released by the Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Based on a review of the Administrative Record assembled in this matter and in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, I determine that the circumstances that were the basis for the designation have changed in such a manner to warrant revocation of the designation,” Blinken wrote in the notice.

A brief detail of these five organizations is enlisted below:

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA): A Spanish separatist group based in Basque, the ETA translates to ‘Basque Homeland and Liberty. The organization was active since 1959 and worked as one of the main groups during the Basque National Liberation Movement. Between 1968 and 2010, ETA killed more than 829 civilians and injured thousands more. Apart from the U.S., ETA is recognized as a terrorist organization by Spain, France, the UK, Canada, and European Union.

Aum Shinrikyo: Aum Shinrikyo is a Japanese cult founded by Shoko Asahara in 1987. The group is responsible for carrying out deadly attacks in Tokyo in 1995. In 2018, the founder of Aum Shinrikyo, Asahara was executed along with 6 other members of the group. Several countries including Russia, Canada, and Kazakhstan recognize Aum Shinrikyo as a terrorist organization.

Kach Kahane Chai: Kach Kahane Chai is an Israeli radical orthodox Jewish extremist organization founded by an Israeli-American Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1997. Kach Kahane Chai has been involved in several terrorist attacks and killings of dozens of Palestinians. The U.S. State Department says that the organization has not been linked with any terrorist activity since 2005.

*^{A man holding a ‘Kahane was right’ sign at the site of a terror attack in Jerusalem on November 5, 2014. (Image Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)}*

Mujahideen Shura Council of Jerusalem: The Mujahideen Shura Council of Jerusalem is an umbrella group composed of several small Jihadist groups based in Gaza and the West Bank. The group declared its support for the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014, losing its individual identity. The Mujahideen Shura Council of Jerusalem is responsible for carrying out several attacks on Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli settlements.

Al-Islamiyya group of Gama, Egypt: The Al-Islamiyya group has been active since the 1970s. At one time it was one of the largest militant groups in Egypt, however, the group appears to have lost in the current times. The group played a major role in carrying out the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 as well as several other attacks inside Egypt.

The removal of these organizations from the list comes at a time when the U.S. Congress is already debating whether or not the branch of the Iranian military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), should be removed from the FTO list in order to pave way for nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Although these organizations are deemed to be inactive, the decision of removing them from the FTO list is expected to draw backlash from the civil society and international community, especially from the families of the victims of attacks by these groups.