When a group of California legislators visited Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where Hamas killed 63 residents and took 19 as hostages on Oct. 7, they could hear the sounds of Israel’s wartime bombardment a mile away in Gaza.
“We were hearing the constant booms of artillery exploding in Gaza and the constant buzzing of military drones,” state Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Los Angeles) said of the mid-February visit.
The booms interrupted Chen Kotler Abrahams, a kibbutz resident who was describing the events of Oct. 7 that ravaged and displaced her community.
“She would just be talking and then we’d hear the boom. And she’d say, ‘Oh, this is artillery’ — just kind of matter of fact,” Muratsuchi said. “That was my first personal experience in my life of visiting a warzone.”
Muratsuchi, who is Japanese American, joined a four-day trip to Israel last month for Jewish and non-Jewish state legislators.
State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-S.F.) and state Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-San Fernando Valley), co-chairs of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, led the trip, which was sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area, the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles and the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California.
They traveled to the site of the Nova music festival massacre where more than 360 people were killed by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. They met with Jewish and Bedouin families whose relatives are still held hostage in Gaza. They spoke with a Palestinian journalist for the New York Times and with leaders of rape crisis centers working with survivors of sexual violence on Oct. 7.
“The Oct. 7 attack and the war in Gaza have had profound impacts on both Jewish and Palestinian communities in California, so we thought it was important to go,” Wiener told J., adding that they were unable to visit Gaza or the West Bank for security reasons but made efforts to understand the toll of the Israel-Hamas war on Palestinians.
In a conversation with Rami Nazzal, a New York Times journalist based in the West Bank, the group learned more about how the war impacts Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, Muratsuchi said.
“He stated, perhaps more clearly than any other speaker during our trip, the two state-solution is the only solution, that we cannot lose sight or lose hope to recognize the right of Israel to exist but, at the same time, the urgent need to end the civilian carnage taking place in Gaza,” Muratsuchi said.
The delegation of California legislators also included Sen. Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblymembers Damon Connolly (D-San Rafael), Esmeralda Soria (D-Fresno) and Josh Lowenthal (D-Long Beach).
Connolly declined J.’s request to discuss the trip, and Soria didn’t respond to J.’s request for comment.
Tye Gregory, JCRC Bay Area’s CEO, joined the Feb. 14-18 delegation.
“For JCRC, the trip strengthened our resolve,” Gregory wrote in a message to JCRC supporters. “We will continue to advocate for the immediate return of all hostages, end Hamas’ control over Gaza, and increase humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians. We will also continue to expose the hypocrisy and antisemitism emanating from anti-Israel groups, who refuse to hold Hamas accountable for its crimes against humanity.”
When Wiener, who had visited Israel four times prior, posted photos and takeaways from the February trip on X, he received dozens of ugly comments.
“Imagine your representatives touring Nazi Germany at the height of the holocaust, and explaining how the Warsaw ghetto uprising was the worst slaughter of Germany in 75 years. That’s what you just did,” one person wrote.
Wiener is a progressive politician who has been outspoken about his support for Israel but has also been a vocal critic of its current government and advocated for new political leadership.
He told J. that the negativity he received for visiting Israel was misguided.
“There unfortunately are advocates, a bunch of them are on Twitter, who want Israel to no longer exist,” Wiener said. “They want Israel to be destroyed. They want the Jews out of Israel. They may not say that explicitly, but that’s the consequence of what they’re advocating. And I just fundamentally disagree with that.”
He called a two-state plan “the only solution” that can create a lasting peace.
“I want there to be an independent and secure and prosperous Palestine and an independent, secure and prosperous Israel,” he said.
Muratsuchi had visited Israel once previously on a 2018 trip sponsored by the American Jewish Committee and said the recent visit “deeply moved” him.
“This trip really brought home to me the urgency to work for peace in the region,” Muratsuchi said. “To keep hope alive for the ultimate dream of a two-state solution.”