European MP Petr Mach is forming the first official caucus group that will support building homes in Judea and Samaria. Photo: Martin Kozák via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – A European member of parliament is forming the first official caucus group that will support building homes in Judea and Samaria, and promote free trade with imports made and labeled from these areas in Israel.

“I see Israel as a friend and also as an important ally of Europe, in defense and in the fight against terrorism and for this purpose and to promote these common values, I have decided to put together . . . a group of friends of Judea and Samaria,”  Petr Mach, a Czech Republic member of the European parliament said in a video statement published by Yedioth Achronoth.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan met last week with Mach to discuss formalizing the group.

“There is a strong bias prejudice of the current European elites against Israel in the Israeli Palestinian conflict,” Mach said.

“We believe that the European Union must stop sending money to the Palestinian government, money which is used directly or indirectly to sponsor terrorism,” he added.

Mach also mentioned how Jews and Arabs work together in Judea and Samaria, and that when the EU states boycott Jewish products they harm “not just Jews but Palestinians as well.”