Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi DaganFlash 90

Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi Dagan sent a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, regarding the funding by the European Union of campaigns that support anti-Semitism.

In the letter, Dagan wrote, "With all due respect, Israeli radical extremist left-wing organizations are currently running a campaign in Israel that censures the Jews of Judea and Samaria and accuses them of violence."

"This is a deceptive, comprehensive, provocative, and discriminative campaign that condemns and categorizes a large and extensive population of about half a million people, accusing them with false accusations, solely because they are Jews who live in Judea and Samaria.

"In addition, as we will explain, this is a campaign that portrays the victims – who are murdered and suffer from severe Arab terrorism on a daily basis – as violent. This is despite the fact that according to the data available to anyone wishing to study them, only 1.4% of the incidents of violence in Judea and Samaria have involved Jews against Arabs, while 98% of the incidents of violence and terrorism involve Arabs attacking Jews.

"Moreover, the terror attacks against Jews include attempted murder and manslaughter, while the majority of violent acts carried out by Jews involved damage to property, such as graffiti sprayed on walls, etc."

Dagan continued, "I was shocked to discover that the European Union (EU) is responsible for financing this abusive and provocative campaign, backing the extreme left-wing organization 'Breaking the Silence' with no less than one million ILS for this purpose."

"Beyond the deep condescension that the EU Commission reveals by allowing itself to grossly intervene and provoke against Israeli citizens, the organization is participating in a deceitful and spurious campaign, which has absolutely no relation to the existing facts. It is disturbing to see that the EU supports and reinforces these lies.

"According to data from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, in 2020 there were 4,000 cases of rock-throwing by Palestinians reported throughout Judea and Samaria. In 2021 there was a sharp increase in the number of attempted murders of Jews when about 5,500 incidents of Palestinians throwing rocks at Jewish residents were reported! On average, this means one attempted murder every two hours (!).

"Incidents of violence and potentially lethal terror against Jewish residents have risen in all aspects, whether it is rock-throwing, hurling Molotov cocktails, stabbing attempts – which have doubled together with an increase in shooting incidents against Jewish civilians and soldiers. All this is to achieve the purpose of harming or murdering Jewish residents of these areas, including mothers and children making their way home, on the way back from work, school, kindergartens, and people making their way back to their home and families. On the other hand, incidents attributed to Jews are hundreds of percent lower, and are usually related to criminal activity, not to terrorism or attempted murder."