Originating at the time of the Jewish return to the Land of Israel from Babylonian exile in the 5th century BCE, the Samaritans accepted the Pentateuch while rejecting the other books of the Hebrew Bible along with the rabbinic tradition. Fewer than 1,000 Samaritans live in Israel today, but in the first centuries of the Common Era they likely made up a sizable minority of the land’s population. Recently, writes Ruth Schuster, archaeologists discovered the remnants of a winepress near the town of Tsur Natan in central Israel that apparently belonged to a wealthy Samaritan landlord named Adios:

The finds have been dated to the early 5th century CE, when the Samaritan community in the Holy Land was at its peak. We know the winepress the archaeologists found was Adios’, . . . and that he had done very well for himself, because of a mosaic on the winepress floor. The mosaic is about eight by three feet in area, and although its lettering is a tad crude, it clearly says: “Only God help the beautiful property of Master Adios, amen.” The inscription, in Greek, was deciphered and translated by Leah Di Segni of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

“‘Master’ was an honorific given to senior members of the community and attests to the high social standing of the owners of the estate,” says Hagit Torge, the director of the salvage excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. . . .

Previously, an ancient Samaritan synagogue was found atop Tel Tsur Natan. The excavation does not encompass the hilltop, which is where Adios probably lived. . .

[B]ut the heyday of the Samaritans was nearing its end. Upset at efforts to convert them, in the 6th century the Samaritans revolted against the early Christian rulers. . . . According to the Samaritans, they rebelled when Caesar Zeno, who ruled from 474 to 491 (with a hiatus in the middle) ordered their conversion to Christianity, killed many of their leaders when they refused, converted their synagogue into a church, and built on their sacred Mount Gerizim. Other sources say Zeno cracked down only after the Samaritans rebelled.

Established in 2012 and maintaining branches in Europe, North America, and Iran, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Network claims its goal is merely to show “solidarity” for imprisoned Palestinians. The organization’s leader, however, has admitted to being a representative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a notorious terrorist group whose most recent accomplishments include murdering a seventeen-year-old girl. As Arsen Ostrovsky and Patricia Teitelbaum point out, Samidoun is just one example of how the European Union allows Iran-backed terrorists to operate in its midst:

The PFLP is a proxy of the Iranian regime, which provides the terror group with money, training, and weapons. Samidoun . . . has a branch in Tehran. It has even held events there, under the pretext of “cultural activity,” to elicit support for operations in Europe. Its leader, Khaled Barakat, is a regular on Iran’s state [channel] PressTV, calling for violence and lauding Iran’s involvement in the region. It is utterly incomprehensible, therefore, that the EU has not yet designated Samidoun a terror group.

According to the Council of the European Union, groups and/or individuals can be added to the EU terror list on the basis of “proposals submitted by member states based on a decision by a competent authority of a member state or a third country.” In this regard, there is already a standing designation by Israel of Samidoun as a terror group and a decision of a German court finding Barakat to be a senior PFLP operative.

Given the irrefutable axis-of-terror between Samidoun, PFLP, and the Iranian regime, the EU has a duty to put Samidoun and senior Samidoun leaders on the EU terror list. It should do this not as some favor to Israel, but because otherwise it continues to turn a blind eye to a group that presents a clear and present security threat to the European Union and EU citizens.