Lawmakers visiting Mideast see anger, desire for peace
PHOENIX – Religious faith and personal feelings about the ongoing conflict in Israel and the Gaza Strip motivated Arizona Rep. Alma Hernandez to take a group of fellow lawmakers to the region earlier this month.
“It was important for people to see this, to bear witness to what’s actually going on,” she told the Arizona Republic following the trip.
The trip mainly focused on the experience of Israelis. Participants got close enough to the war zone to hear automatic gunfire but could not enter Gaza for safety reasons.
Hernandez, a Democrat, converted to Judaism in 2015 after finding out her maternal grandmother was Jewish.
The three-term legislator has faced antisemitism previously but said she has experienced more problems since the deadly Oct. 7 incursion by Hamas fighters into Israel. She said she’s been worried about her safety at home since pro-Palestinian organizers targeted her with flyers listing her home address.
A New York City-based nonprofit group she has worked with before, Itrek, paid for the flight, lodging, transportation and security for the Arizona contingent.
Itrek’s stated mission is “to educate a generation of leaders about Israel’s values and global contributions to the world,” according to its IRS forms.
The group of 17 Arizona House members spent March 2-5 in Israel meeting government officials and touring sites, including destroyed kibbutzes. They talked with families of hostages and the mother of a slain Israeli soldier, in addition to taking a tour of Jerusalem. An armed guard accompanied them everywhere they went.
The group did meet with a Palestinian journalist who gave them a glimpse of his side of the conflict. Hernandez said she’s honoring his wish not to reveal his name.
Hernandez acknowledged to some of the Israelis she met that she felt “a lot of anger and frustration, mainly because of what I’m going through.” Hearing the Palestinian perspective was “really important to me,” she said.
The journalist told the group he was “taught to hate,” and that “Jews stole our land,” she said. “He even said his efforts have always been around peace, because he doesn’t want his children to be taught what he was taught.”
State Rep. Nancy Gutierrez, one of seven Democrats on the Itrek tour, said hope for peace was evident to “everyone we talked to.” She plans to write about her experience, she added.
Another Democrat, state Rep. Keith Seaman, said the main reason he went was to “see the Holy Land” and Jerusalem. He was also interested in a talk they heard about Israel’s innovations in desalination, agriculture and renewable energy, adding “that was important, too.”
When asked if he thought Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack was justified, Seaman said: “I need to figure that out myself.”
State House Speaker Ben Toma was among the 10 Republicans on the trip. He said he was struck by the enormous effect the Oct. 7 attack had on “the average Israeli.”
“Whether Israeli-Arabs or Jewish, it was very traumatizing to them,” Toma said.