Prof. Weiss,EU legislators and Ha'Ivri
Prof. Weiss,EU legislators and Ha'IvriIsrael news photo

A delegation sponsored by officials in Samaria is strengthening ties with European nationalists who share a common link – the battle against Muslim radicals.

A parliamentary delegation from Europe visited Samaria and the Gush Katif Museum in Jerusalem last Chanukah. The officials support Jewish sovereignty in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Jerusalem as a condition for the success of the struggle against the increasing dominance of Islam extremists.

The visit was reciprocated last week by Prof. Hillel Weiss of Land of Israel Faithful, David Ha’Ivri of the Shomron Liaison Office, and Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe, Chairman of The Land of Israel Is Ours.

The Flemish Interest party, headed by Philip Dewinter, arrange for their visit. The Belgium party represents 10 percent of the country’s voters and 34 percent of those living in Antwerp.

The Israeli delegation spoke in Germany and Belgium, where they said the establishment of a Palestinian Authority country would require the expulsion of more than 250,000 Jews in Judea and Samaria.

Not everyone in Europe was happy with the visit. One local newspaper in Germany wrote that it is a "lie" that Judea and Samaria exists and that in reality it is the “West Bank” of Palestine. In Cologne, where Jews have lived since the 4th century and where the entire community was slaughtered in the First Crusade, the city’s mayor called the visitors “unwelcome guests.”

Prof. Weiss showed his hosts a “lamentation,” written in the year of the slaughter by Rabbi Yoel of Cologne, whose family and community were murdered.  

He also spoke to the Flemish parliament and the head of the country’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, pointing out the Jewish ownership of land in Judea and Samaria for centuries. His speech can be read here.

Prof. Weiss also reminded the Europeans that the San Remo Conference in 1922 included Judea and Samaria as part of the Land of Israel that belong to Jews.  He said allowing Muslims to take control of the area would encourage their increasing dominance of Europe.

Ha’Ivri, aided by visual aids, spoke on the history of Judea and Samaria and the achievements of Jewish residents there.

Rabbi Wolpe told his hosts that Arabs attacked his family over several generations, and that his grandfather, an elder of Hevron, was murdered in 1897 and other family members were killed in the 1929 Arab massacre of Jews in the city.