Teen terror victim to European Parliament: Stop funding war

The Friends of Judea and Samaria, a European Parliament caucus that aims to halt European Union funding of Palestinian terrorism and abolish EU trade barriers placed on Jewish goods from Judea and Samaria hosted its first ever conference in Brussels on Tuesday.

One of the speakers at the conference, named "Israel and the West Bank -- Facts and Myths," was Ayala Shapira, whose emotional speech earned her a standing ovation. Shapira was critically wounded in a terrorist attack in December 2014, when terrorists hurled a firebomb into a car she was riding with her father as they made their way home in Samaria.

With her face fully bandaged as a result of the third-degree burns she suffered in the attack, Shapira told conference attendees, "I am Ayala, almost 14 years old. I live in El Matan in Samaria. I like to read, write stories and draw. I want to describe the feeling of having a terrorist attack directed at you.

"One of the terrorists that threw the Molotov cocktail at our car was a 16-year-old boy, only a few years older than me. He did it, among other reasons, to help his family financially. He knew that if he went to prison, the Palestinian Authority would take care of them. I want you to remember that sometimes when you think you are donating money to peace, you are in fact funding the war," she said.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, who was also in attendance, remarked that "for a long time, they [Europe] have been talking about us, but they have not been talking with us. We came here to change this situation and to promote the human rights of the Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria."

Speaking at the event, Petr Mach, an ardent supporter of Israel, said, "We decided to establish a new group in the European Parliament, since we want to inform the public and members of parliament of the use of European taxpayer money to support terror. We want to act together to put an end to the funding that supports terrorism."