Samaria Regional Council Chairman Yossi Dagan held a marathon of meetings this week with members of the European Parliament, as well as members of the Czech and Hungarian parliaments, in which he informed them that tens of millions of shekel from European taxpayers goes to fund anti-Israel actions including a campaign against settler violence, blackmail of settlers, and attempts by the Palestinian Authority to infringe upon Israeli sovereignty over Area C.
European Parliament member Ivan Rohr told Dagan: "We will work together, jointly, to strengthen our common goals. We will always work together for both Israel and Europe."
Jan Bartošek, Deputy Speaker of the Czech Parliament, promised cooperation and told Dagan: "I wish long life and peace to all Israeli citizens. We are very pleased that the Czech Parliament has opposed the labeling of products from Samaria, and I hope and wish our countries of Israel and the Czech Republic continue in prosperity and cooperation in the near and distant future. I extend a warm greeting from the residents of the Czech Republic to the residents of Judea and Samaria. "
Daniel Herman, former Czech Minister of Culture, also met with the head of the Samaria Council and said: "I congratulate you from the heart of Europe, from the Czech Republic. It was a pleasure to meet my friend Yossi Dagan again. We talked about the difficult situation for those living in Samaria. I want to ensure our solidarity. We will work together on the political level to strengthen construction in Samaria. The Czech Republic is a friend of Israel and we reject the boycott of your products, as was also clarified by our Parliament, I am glad there is such cooperation between our countries, and I look forward to strengthening that cooperation. I hope we can meet again."
The head of the Samaria Regional Council explained the decision to hold such a string of meetings in European parliaments on this issue: "When you tell the truth, people join your cause. Many MPs fight with us. Unfortunately, European taxpayer money is being used for clearly anti-Israel purposes without the citizens' knowledge."
"Unfortunately, the Foreign Ministry is not doing its job and is not even trying to change the paradigm or to stop either the Palestinian Authority's takeover of Area C or the campaign against settler violence, both being carried out with European funding."
Dagan added: "I hope that the Ministry and the Israeli government will recover and start acting - as they are able to do - in European parliaments to stop European funding for these purposes, just as we did to stop the European funding that paid salaries to Palestinian Authority terrorists."