So, five Vermont state representatives visited Israel last week as part of a massive push to show American support for that country. The five, pictured above with a Vermont state flag, from lower right: Matt Birong (D-Vergennes), Will Greer (D-Bennington), Gina Galfetti (R-Barre Town), Sarita Austin (D-Colchester), and James Gregoire (R-Fairfield). The photo, along with similar images of lawmakers from other New England states, was posted on a social media account named “israelinboston.”

The occasion was a nationwide initiative called “50 States, One Israel,” which brought lawmakers from all 50 states to Israel to, among other things, plant trees in the southern city of Ofakim, which was attacked as part of the infamous Hamas offensive of October 7, 2023.

Planting a tree is a nice, anodyne thing to do. The rest of the trip? Not so much.

And before we get to that, I must point out that the trip happened the same week that Vermont’s Congressional delegation unanimously used the word “genocide” for the first time regarding Israel’s attacks on Gaza. Seems a little bit discordant, does it not, for three Democratic elected officials to visit Israel at the same time our members of Congress, two Democrats plus Bernie Sanders, accuse Israel of committing genocide?

The trip was noted on the “Vermont” Reddit thread, and reported more fully by The Rake Vermont, a progressive news site. The roughly 250 lawmakers had their expenses fully covered, and the events were all arranged by the Israeli government. (The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the sponsor and host, according to a document submitted by an Oregon lawmaker to that state’s Ethics Commission.) “I think what the biggest thing I wanted out of this and one of the biggest things I did take away [from] it was being able to see things with my own eyes,” Birong said in an interview with The Rake.

Well, uh, he got to “see things” the Israeli government wanted him to see. And the event was a public relations masterstroke for that government, given heavy and positive coverage by Israeli media. The Jerusalem Post described the event as illustrating “the current mosaic of support that Israel has across the US.”

The Oregon filing included a full itinerary of the five-day junket. Aside from the picturesque tree planting, the lawmakers got briefings from top Israeli officials, visited the Old City of Jerusalem and the World Holocaust Remembrance Center known (Yad Vashem), attended a dinner with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and a reception with US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, heard a speech by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and took part in something called “Israeli Innovation Day,” which presumably didn’t include the fine art of turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse.

The American delegations were not offered any opportunity to meet with Palestinians or independent observers, so what Birong got to see with his own eyes represented only one side of a thorny, intractable situation.

At least one American lawmaker accepted an invitation and later backed out. “What I decided was that I didn’t just need to guard against propaganda,” Democratic State Senator Beth Liston of Ohio explained in a social media post. “I WAS the propaganda in this sponsored trip. I did not want to be used as a tool in support of the Israeli government’s actions.”

The 250 who did attend did not share her qualms.

My own view of the conflict is complicated. After the October 7 attack, I believed that Israel had a right to defend itself against an aggressor with a stated goal of wiping the Jewish state off the face of the planet. I still believe that, but Israel’s conduct has gone way beyond self-defense. And aside from the moral and ethical dimension, there’s the purely practical side of this: Israel is creating present and future generations of terrorists by pursuing a policy that gives Palestinians no hope. Unless they manage to kill every last Palestinian and every last Arab or Muslim who might harbor anti-Israeli views, Israel’s war will do nothing to secure the country’s safety. There will always be a threat.

I can understand wanting to express solidarity for Israel and defend its right to exist. I cannot see any value in doing so right now, under the auspices (and tight control) of the Israeli government. The five Vermonters who took part in “50 States, One Israel” would have done well to follow the example of Sen. Liston.