At the start of September, the chairman of the new European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament, Michal Kaminski, went on his first official trip to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, having previously visited both privately and as secretary of state to the Polish President. His message was a simple one: in the ECR, the state of Israel will have a strong friend in the European Parliament.
Mr Kaminski was invited to Herzliya to be a keynote speaker at the Global Counter-terrorism Conference. In his speech, he commented on how Israel is leading the global fight against terrorism and defending Western principles of freedom, democracy and pluralism.

Mr Kaminski also visited the Western Wall and he had the honour of being escorted around the 'Chain of Generations' museum by its architect Eliav Nahlieli. He laid a wreath at the Holocaust memorial museum, Yad Vashem, where he said he was utterly moved by the exhibition.

On the political front, Mr Kaminski met a number of members of the Kneeset including Yohanan Plesner, the chairman of the European Forum of the Kneeset; Robert Ilatov, the Chairman of the Yisrael Beitenu parliamentary group; Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, the minister for information and Danny Ayalon, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. In all of the meetings, the ongoing menace posed by Iran was discussed. Mr Kaminski resolved the it falls to the European Union to join Israel in taking a firm and active stance against Iran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons, including a strong programme of sanctions.