(JTA) — The president of the European Jewish congress, Moshe Kantor, urged Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta to label Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

In a meeting with Ponta and other senior Romaian officials, Kantor called Hezbollah “one of the current chief elements of violent discord in the Middle East” in a statement.

The European Union does not currently classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. The United States and Israel consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

Romania, along with traditional Eastern bloc allies of Israel and the United States, including the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, oppose giving Hezbollah the label.

“It is incomprehensible that this organization with a proven and unquestionable record of murder and terrorism in Europe and around the world, is allowed to act freely, recruit, plan terrorist operations and raise funds uninterrupted on the European continent,” Kantor said in the statement. “In the face of the bloodshed and violence taking place in the Arab world, Europe can send a very strong message by immediately proscribing an organization actively involved in murder and hatred.”

At the meeting, Kantor also urged Ponta to combat European anti-Semitism and to oppose separate labeling of goods produced in Israeli West Bank settlements.

Ben Sales is JTA’s Israel correspondent. He reports on Israeli politics, culture, society and economics, in addition to covering Palestinian and regional affairs. A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and the Columbia University Journalism School, he is the former editor-in-chief of New Voices, the national Jewish student magazine.