A Jewish lawmaker from Arizona took fellow officials to Israel. What did they learn?

Religious faith and personal feelings about the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza 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.

Hernandez, a Democrat, converted to Judaism in 2015 after finding out her maternal grandmother was Jewish. Her personalized license plate states “Zionist,” a nod to her deep commitment to the state of Israel.

The three-term legislator has faced antisemitism previously, but said she has experienced more problems since the deadly Oct. 7 raid 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’s 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 990 forms. Records show itrek collects a few million dollars each year that helps fund trips to Israel, typically for college students. But the records don’t show who donated, and itrek didn’t return phone messages for this article.

The group of 17 Democratic and Republican Arizona House members spent March 2-5 in Israel meeting government officials and touring sites, including destroyed kibbutzes and the Nova Music Festival Memorial Site where Hamas slaughtered hundreds of civilians. 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 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. The trip did not include a visit to prisons that are holding thousands of Palestinians in what the Israel's Public Defender's Office recently called "crowded conditions" in "uninhabitable" spaces.

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 admitted 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.

He 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.”

Participants felt emotional, intellectual impact from trip

Rep. Nancy Gutierrez of Tucson, one of the seven Democrats on the itrek tour, said hope for peace was evident to “everyone we talked to.” She plans to write about her experience in Israel, she added.

Another Democrat, Rep. Keith Seaman of Casa Grande, 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.”

None of the Democrats who went were among the Arizona legislators who signed a letter accusing Israel of "crimes" in the aftermath of the attack.

House Speaker Ben Toma was among the 10 Republicans on the trip. He was struck by the enormous impact the Oct. 7 attack had on “the average Israeli.”

“Whether Israeli-Arabs or Jewish, it was very traumatizing to them,” Toma said. “This is the worst thing that’s happened to them since the Holocaust.”

Rep. Justin Wilmeth, a Phoenix Republican, said he was “on the brink of tears” listening to the mother of a 21-year-old soldier killed in the war, who told the group she doesn’t “hate” the people who killed him. He brought home a paper cup with remnants of the Turkish coffee they drank in memory of the solider, who loved the grainy, strong drink.

As a supporter of Israel who’s interested in foreign affairs, Wilmeth believes he learned much on the trip that, as an elected official, he can better relate the Israeli mindset to others.

“They have to live in a world where their coffee shop might have a bomb in it one day,” he said.

Reach the reporter at  rstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on X @raystern.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona lawmakers say trip to Israel helped them learn about 'peace'