Recently the United Kingdom outlawed Hizballah’s “political wing,” thus abandoning the former British position that it ought to be treated separately from the terrorist organization’s “military wing.” But the French and German governments still cling to this distinction, which enjoys a pedigree in academic and policy circles in the U.S. Tony Badran writes:

“The only encouraging thing” about the deadly explosion in Beirut, wrote the former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt on Twitter, “is that even Israel has been quick in offering humanitarian aid.” Had Bildt been better informed, he might have known that there is nothing new or unusual about the Jewish state offering humanitarian assistance to its Arab neighbors—or to more far-flung nations. Yet his bizarre comment was less hostile than the reactions of those who rushed to dismiss the offer as a meaningless public-relations stunt. Lahav Harkov writes: