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Source: https://jewishinsider.com/2022/03/lawmakers-reflect-on-trips-to-israel/
Visiting U.S. Lawmakers Find PA Officials Engaged in "Revisionist History"
(Jewish Insider) Marc Rod - Visiting a kibbutz on the Gaza border in February, Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) spoke to a grandmother who pulled out several missiles and incendiary balloons that had landed on her property, near where her grandchildren were playing. He said, "It's a scary life over there - to see what they have to deal with day in and day out - it was scary. You think about what would happen if something like that was happening in America....I think it would change a lot of [people's] minds." "The love of the Israeli people for Israel and the passion that they feel for their nation - it's so evident - it was amazing," offering as an example a 22-year-old officer manning an Iron Dome missile defense battery. "To have that responsibility at 22, they just take it - they love it, they accept that responsibility....You don't see that everywhere, not at all, and not with everyone." Garbarino said that in a meeting with PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, the Palestinian Authority leader dismissed Hamas rocket attacks against Israel - more than 4,000 in May 2021 - as "fireworks." The attacks killed 10 people. Garbarino said Shtayyeh's remark "really annoyed people" in the congressional delegation and reinforced a view that "[the Palestinians] are not ready to have an adult conversation." Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) said that PA officials engaged in "revisionist history." She added that she saw "firsthand the Palestinians and Israelis living peacefully as neighbors for the most part." Rice said that anti-Israel rhetoric from far-left Democrats is a "huge concern," adding, "It's really hard to engage in anti-Israel rhetoric when you go there and you actually see on the ground what's going on there. My hope is that people understand how important it is to stand by Israel and maintain this alliance that we have with them."