TRENTON, N.J. – Three newly elected Republican Assembly members, Assemblymen Michael Inganamort, Paul Kanitra and Greg Myhre, and Middletown Mayor Tony Perry, are among the delegation of state legislators, elected officials and educators visiting war-torn communities and families in Israel next week with the Jewish Federation of Greater Metrowest NJ.
“This is a unique opportunity to connect with families devastated by the brutal Hamas attacks on Israel, meet with local officials to discuss the war as it stretches beyond 100 days, and experience the Israeli relief efforts and the resilience of the kibbutzniks,” the Republicans said in a joint statement. “To be able to gain this type of perspective is an honor and privilege.”
One of the stops on their three-day trip will be to a kibbutz, a pastoral cooperative along the border with Gaza that was among the hardest hit communities in the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7. The terrorists murdered more than 60 members of the kibbutz, from children to grandparents, and kidnapped 17 others, four of whom are still being held hostage in Gaza.
The delegation will also visit a community whose heroic residents defended the small city from Hamas. They will speak to families who lost loved ones in the attack and meet with local officials.
The Republican elected officials will be delivering letters from New Jersey school students to Muslim and Jewish students studying at a school in Jerusalem. They will also be engaging with local volunteer centers spearheading relief efforts near the Gaza border and meeting patients at a hospital who have been wounded in the war.
The itinerary also includes intergovernmental meetings with members of the Knesset, Israel’s legislature, community representatives, nonprofit leaders and other local officials.