Digging in a cave in northern Israel known as Einot Amitai, archaeologists have discovered what appears to be 2,000-year-old stoneware factory. Robin Ngo comments on its significance:

“Stone vessels played an integral role in the daily religious lives of Jews during [the 1st century CE],” explained the archaeologist Yonatan Adler, a senior lecturer at Ariel University. “It was a Jewish ‘stone age’ of sorts.”

Adler and Dennis Mizzi [of] the University of Malta are co-directors of the excavation at Einot Amitai. . . . Located on the western slopes of Har Yonah near Nazareth, Einot Amitai features a massive cave hewn into a chalkstone hill. The archaeologists discovered in their inaugural excavation season this summer chalkstone vessels at different stages of production, suggesting that the cave functioned as a workshop.

While vessels—from tableware to cooking pots to storage jars—were usually made of clay in antiquity, Jews throughout Judea and Galilee in the 1st century CE used vessels made of stone.

According to the purity laws observed by Jews in ancient times, metal or clay vessels could become ritually contaminated, in which case they often had to be destroyed. Stone vessels, which couldn’t contract impurity, were therefore seen as advantageous—a fact noted in the New Testament:

The gospel of John alludes to the Jewish custom of using stone vessels: “Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons.”

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.