The Jewish community of Beit El in Judea and Samaria. Credit: Yaakov via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – A delegation of Belgian parliamentarians visited Judea and Samaria on Thursday as guests of the Shomron Regional Council. The visit was coordinated by the council’s foreign relations committee.

During the visit, delegation head Senator Anke Vandermeersch noted that she was “surprised to see how different the reality here is compared to what we are shown by the European media,” Israel Hayom reported.

Vandermeersch, a 1992 Miss Universe finalist, agreed to head pro-Israel public diplomacy efforts in Belgium and in the European Parliament, in an effort to counter anti-Israel boycott campaigns.

“This is another important step for the settlement enterprise and for the State of Israel,” Shomron Regional Council head Gershon Mesika said.