Updated at 7:04 p.m.
A bipartisan group of Vermont House members and hundreds of their counterparts from other states visited Israel last week on a trip sponsored by the Israeli government. The visit comes as the Middle Eastern country is facing mounting international scrutiny over its war in Gaza.
Rep. Sarita Austin, D-Colchester; Rep. Matt Birong, D-Vergennes; Rep. Gina Galfetti, R-Barre Town; Rep. Will Greer, D-Bennington; and Rep. James Gregoire, R-Fairfield, took part in the visit, which was called “50 States, One Israel,” according to interviews and social media posts. The trip’s itinerary, which was organized by Israeli officials, ran from Monday, Sept. 15 to Thursday, Sept. 18.
Four of the five legislators were initially invited on the trip by Israel’s foreign ministry, while one, Gregoire, was invited to join later on. In all, 250 legislators from all 50 states attended the event, which Israeli leaders described as the largest-ever gathering of U.S. lawmakers in their country.
Several of the Vermont lawmakers said Monday that they joined the trip because they wanted to learn more about the impacts of the war in Gaza firsthand and wanted to take advantage of an opportunity to interact directly with top Israeli officials.
The visit took place nearly two years into the military campaign that Israel launched following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on the country by Hamas, which governs Gaza. About 1,200 people were killed in the attack and 250 were taken hostage. Since then, Israel’s ground and air offensive has killed more than 60,000 people in Gaza, with nearly a third of the dead under the age of 18, according to local health authorities.
In August, the United Nations declared a famine in Gaza, saying more than half a million people were facing “starvation, destitution and death” as a result. The UN and other international organizations have repeatedly accused Israel of curtailing the amount of food aid that is able to be brought into the Gaza enclave.
Just a day into the legislators’ visit, Israeli forces further escalated the war with a ground offensive into Gaza City, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said is aimed at rooting out Hamas. But the offensive has already killed women and children and is expected to exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in the population hub.
Vast numbers of buildings in the city, and throughout the Gaza Strip, have been destroyed by Israeli strikes since the start of the war.
Also last week, an independent United Nations commission released a report finding that Israel has committed four “genocidal acts” in Gaza since October 2023. Shortly after, all three members of Vermont’s congressional delegation — Democrats U.S. Rep. Becca Balint and Sen. Peter Welch and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders — became some of the first members of Congress to publicly call Israel’s war a “genocide.”
According to an Instagram post from Israel’s government, the state legislators on the trip “witnessed the magnitude of the October 7 tragedy, experienced Israel’s innovation and cutting-edge technology, tasted our incredible cuisine, and met with Israel’s leaders — including the Prime Minister, the President, the Foreign Minister, and many others.”
During a stop in Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar urged the legislators, specifically, to pass laws in their states that would hinder the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, according to The Jerusalem Post. The international movement aims to use economic pressure to force Israel’s government to change its policies.
“We are witnessing a coordinated global effort against Israel today,” Sa’ar said.
The Jerusalem Post also reported that Amir Ohana, speaker of the Knesset, which is Israel’s parliament, spoke to the legislators as well before giving a musical performance that Ohana said was dedicated to the slain American conservative pundit Charlie Kirk.
The itinerary also included stops in Tel Aviv as well as visits to several Israeli settlements, known as kibbutzim, that are located close to the Gaza border, according to materials viewed by VTDigger. Legislators visited the site, also near Gaza, where Hamas fighters in 2023 killed hundreds of people at the Nova music festival. They also planted trees, one per state, in remembrance of Israelis killed in that day’s attack.
Several of the Vermont legislators who attended last week’s trip said that they got to speak with Israeli citizens, in addition to the country’s political leaders, during their visit. They acknowledged, however, that the trip — funded and overseen by Israel — did not offer them an objective analysis of the conflict or its history.
Some of the members of the group have leadership roles in the Statehouse. Birong is the chair of the House Government Operations and Military Affairs Committee, while Gregoire is vice chair of the House Corrections and Institutions Committee.
Four of the five sponsored a bill this year aimed at creating a new curriculum for Vermont students, and new training for Vermont teachers, focused on “the evolving nature of antisemitism” in the U.S., among other measures. The legislation, H.310, did not advance after being introduced at the start of this year’s legislative session, though it could still be taken up when legislators return for the 2026 session in January.
Gregoire, a Republican, said in an email Monday that he and the other Vermont legislators “spoke to the concerns of food distribution” in Gaza during the trip. He said he observed a divide between what many Israeli citizens want, which is “just to live in peace,” and what Netanyahu and some members of the Israeli government want.
However, he said it was clear to him that Hamas was standing in the way of a peaceful solution, as well.
“The reality is Hamas created this disaster and that cannot be ignored because they will never allow a lasting peace,” he wrote. He and the other legislators “could’ve sat at home and had no voice,” Gregoire continued, but by traveling to Israel, they “took a risk because ending the conflict in Gaza in a way that leads to lasting peace for the human beings on both sides is that important.”
He added that the trip gave him an opportunity to talk with legislators from other states about topics unrelated to the conflict as well — such as impending cuts to federal funding for Medicaid and nutritional benefits — contending that he likely wouldn’t have had the opportunity to have such conversations otherwise.
Galfetti, one of Gregoire’s GOP colleagues, said in an email Monday that “Hamas has the power to end this conflict and the suffering of the Palestinian people right now by releasing the hostages they took so violently,” referring to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack.
However, she added that Netanyahu “has dubiously started a ground offensive in Gaza in furtherance of a Genocide. This is not in line with what the citizens of Israel want. The United States can still support the people of Israel as we have for decades, while being critical of the Netanyahu government.”
One of the Democrats on the trip, Greer, said in an interview Monday that he did not travel to Israel because he wanted to show support for Israel’s government, and in a follow-up message, called the country’s military offensive a genocide. Instead, he described the trip as an opportunity to share concerns that his constituents have raised — including about a lack of food aid in Gaza — with Israeli leaders.
“One of the things that I hear a lot from people in Bennington is that, you know, we’re powerless on the world stage. But this was an opportunity to show that we’re not, and to actually show that we can be the changemakers,” Greer said. “I’ve never shied away from trying to add to the conversation — and trying to be there to promote peace.”
