The EU’s General Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by Hamas to take the group off the list of terrorist organization so that it may be allowed to gain access to its frozen assets in European banks, Deutsche Welle reported.
Hamas has been on the EU terrorist list since 2001.
The decision can be appealed to the European Court of Justice.
The Court’s ruling on Wednesday related specifically to Hamas’ appeal of the EU’s decision to renew its terrorism listing in 2015. Hamas had argued that the EU made a “mistaken characterization of Hamas as a terrorist group,” and denied the group the right to defend its “good name” and failed to not substantiate the decision “by any evidence” to justify the listing.
Hamas further claimed that it is “a lawful political movement that won the Palestinian elections and forms the core of the Palestinian government.”
The court’s ruling cited a number of Hamas terrorist attacks on Israelis and foreigners.