A delegation of 250 U.S. lawmakers on a tour of areas in southern Israel that were attacked by Hamas and Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, planted 50 trees on Tuesday in the Negev Desert city of Ofakim—one for each state in America.
The visit by the largest-ever delegation of U.S. elected officials, made up primarily of state senators and House representatives, came nearly two years after the surprise cross-border attack. It also fell on the same day as the Israeli Defense Forces initiated its land operation in Gaza City against the last Hamas stronghold in the coastal enclave.
“You represent the breadth and depth of America’s commitment to Israel not just in the exceptional administration of President Trump, but in every state, every city, every community across your great republic,” Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel told the American lawmakers who gathered in a covered tent under the late-summer scorching sun. “Two years after Oct. 7, we are still mourning, still rebuilding, and we are still fighting. But we are also planting for a future where Israel is safer, stronger and more vibrant than ever before.”
Ifat Ovadia-Luski, chairwoman of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, the Israeli nonprofit that hosted the event and oversees the country’s forests, said that “this moving ceremony reflects the depth of the bond between Israel and the United States, not only between governments but also between nations. There is no better PR for Israel than to plant a tree and to show people how we are rebuilding the land and our connection to it.”
The bipartisan delegation, dubbed “50 States One Israel,” reaffirmed America’s unflinching commitment and friendship with Israel despite the international opprobrium over the fallout from the ongoing war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“It is meaningful to be here to see firsthand the atrocities committed on Oct. 7 and to reaffirm the commitment of the U.S. to support our friend and ally Israel, which is a shining light of democracy and creative power of better life and humanity in the Middle East,” Tom Willis, a Republican state senator from West Virginia, told JNS.
“As a former soldier, I wanted to pick up arms and protect Israel as I viewed the innocent loss of life and barbarism of Hamas,” stated Bryce Reeves, a Republican member of the Virginia Senate and a former U.S. Ranger. “America has woken up and Israel has woken up, too.”
Aaron Reed, a Republican state senator from Kentucky and a former Navy SEAL, stated that “so many people back home don’t have a clue what the world is like, and are being fed a constant narrative that is growing more and more antisemitic by a very liberal media. I believe in peace through strength, and if we help Israel, our biggest ally, then we won’t have to fight ourselves.”
‘Direct impact on Jews around the globe’
Democrat lawmakers on the delegation expressed some concerns over the ongoing fallout from the war, even as they acknowledged the anti-Israel misinformation and disinformation being spread worldwide.
“The decisions of the government of Israel have a direct impact on the safety and security of Jews around the globe,” said Becca Rausch, a Democratic state senator in Massachusetts, calling the trip quite personal due to the tent encampments at universities in her home state. “There is a fundamental lack of understanding of history and intellectual dishonesty of applying the American construction of race and racism to Israel and the Middle East.”
Cheryl Kagan, a Democratic state senator in Maryland, said that while it was “inspiring” to see her non-Jewish colleagues in Israel for the first time, many of her colleagues and constituents back home had concerns about the ongoing war in Gaza, which she hoped both the U.S. and Israeli governments were focused on ending.
Many in the group became overwhelmed with emotion upon seeing the sites where so many civilians were abused, tortured and murdered.
“Standing here, I couldn’t be prouder to be a Jew and a Zionist; to me, they are the same,” said Esther Panitch, a Democratic member of Georgia’s House of Representatives. “And to be surrounded by other Americans, Democrats and Republicans, Jewish and Christian Zionists.”
