It was a privilege to be part of the largest diplomatic delegation ever to visit the state of Israel.
The 250 State legislators were a contingent of Republicans and Democrats who traveled from every state in America.
While in Israel, we visited Jewish, Christian, and Muslim holy sites as well as the site where the Nova Festival massacre took place, and where over 400 young partygoers were murdered, and where hundreds more were raped, tortured, and taken hostage by the Hamas terrorist group.
We also visited the Be’eri Kibbutz, where farmers, with just 10 rifles allowed in the entire community, were viciously slaughtered by thousands of terrorists. Many of them had to watch as their children were burned alive in front of them. The burned and bullet-riddled homes in the kibbutz were a shock to our sense,s and they stand today as a monument to the blind hatred so many have towards Israel and the Jewish community.
The invasion by Hamas on October 7th was just one front of the coordinated attack on Israel. While Hamas attacked from the ground, Hezbollah and the Houthis attacked Israel from the air with rockets and drones, which were provided by the Iranian regime.
Their determination to destroy Israel continues to this day. While we were in Israel, our delegation had to seek protective shelter 3 times in 5 days due to rockets launched towards us.
As we travel home, we have been made aware of a protest against the false claim of genocide of Palestinians. If Israel has genocidal intent, they’re sure bad at it. Just one day of bombing Gaza (with the capabilities the Israeli army has) would utterly destroy them, but instead, the IDF does everything possible to avoid killing Gazan civilians who are being used as human shields.
They strive to limit casualties by warning Gazans ahead of time to leave battle zones with millions of text messages, phone calls, dropping leaflets, and by making smaller targeted attacks.
Since the beginning of the war, Israel has made it clear that Hamas must return all of the hostages, including 2 Americans, for the war to end. Once this happens, the war will end, and rebuilding can start for both sides.
Unfortunately, Hamas has no intention of keeping any cease-fire deal. They prefer to sacrifice their own people in order to gain sympathy from the unknowing public.
If we’re being honest, Americans would never put up with daily rocket fire into our country or the blatant torture, rape, and murder of our women and children by neighboring countries.
Venezuelan Narco-Terrorists who are flooding our streets with their poison should take note of this.
Israel must be allowed to protect their citizens, as well as the 750,000 Americans who live within their borders; as a matter of fact, the United States should demand it.
Although this op-ed appears under the Piñon Post byline, it was authored by members of the New Mexico Delegation that recently traveled to Israel. The Delegation includes Sens. Jay Block and Ant Thornton and Reps. Rod Montoya, Stefani Lord, John Block, and Jenifer Jones.