August 6, 2025

On Monday, August 4, 17 Democratic members of the Vermont State Senate issued a deeply troubling statement on Gaza via Facebook and Instagram.

The statement focused almost entirely on hunger in Gaza, repeating inflammatory accusations like “genocide” and pushing debunked claims about Israel deliberately blocking aid and starving civilians. It made no mention of October 7 or the hostages still held by Hamas, even as Hamas was releasing videos of emaciated hostages forced to dig their own graves. 

While Shalom Alliance mourns the suffering of all innocent civilians, we expect our elected officials to acknowledge the full reality, including the ongoing trauma faced by Israeli and Jewish communities worldwide. Instead, this statement excused Hamas and ignored the dangerous fallout of global discourse fueling antisemitism, isolation, and violence against Jews. 

We have already shared our strong concerns directly with each senator. Now we urge you to add your voice. 

Contact the senators who signed this statement. Speak up respectfully but firmly. Tell them Vermont Jews. and all Vermonters, expect balance, truth, and humanity from their leaders. 

Contact Information 

Senator Phil Baruth (D/P-Chittenden-Central):pbaruth@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Seth Bongartz (D-Bennington): sbongartz@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Thomas Chittenden (D-Chittenden-Southeast): tchittenden@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Alison Clarkson (D-Windsor): aclarkson@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Ann Cummings (D-Washington): acummings@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Martine Gulick (D-Chittenden-Central): mgulick@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Ruth Hardy (D-Addison): rhardy@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Wendy Harrison (D-Windham): wharrison@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Nader Hashim (D-Windham): nhashim@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (D-Chittenden-Southeast): vlyons@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Joseph "Joe" Major (D-Windsor): jmajor@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Andrew Perchlik (D/P-Washington): aperchlik@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Robert Plunkett (D-Bennington): rplunkett@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale (D-Chittenden-Southeast): kramhinsdale@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Tanya Vyhovsky (P/D-Chittenden-Central): tvyhovsky@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Anne Watson (D/P-Washington): awatson@leg.state.vt.us

Senator Rebecca "Becca" White (D-Windsor): rwhite@leg.state.vt.us

Erin Stoetzner, Vermont Senate Democrats PAC Director: estoetzner@vtdemocrats.org

Shalom Alliance Message to Senators 

Dear Senator, 

On Monday, August 4, you and your Democratic colleagues issued a nine-slide statement on social media about “genocide” in Gaza. We are deeply concerned by its inaccuracies, dangerous omissions, and the harm it causes to Vermont’s Jewish community, as well as to both Israelis and Palestinians. 

While we, too, grieve the heartbreaking loss of innocent life in Gaza and the suffering of civilians in both countries who are caught in this brutal war, your statement shifts nearly all blame to Israel, with only one vague mention of Hamas, the terrorist organization that deliberately started this war on October 7 by butchering, raping, kidnapping, and torturing Israeli civilians, including babies, children, and women. 

Your statement demands that Israel and the U.S. uphold international law, yet makes no such demand of Hamas, which repeatedly and systematically violates every human rights standard. Further, you effectively excuse Hamas’s behavior by suggesting that the terrorists cannot be expected to behave, and instead holding Israel to an impossible standard of appeasement. 

Your words are not only deeply unjust; but also they ignore the actual cause of Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe: Hamas. According to the United Nations and multiple aid organizations, Hamas has stolen more than 80% of the humanitarian aid entering Gaza, hoarding it or selling it at extortionate prices to desperate Palestinians. Eighthundred trucks of aid are rotting in the Gaza sun because the UN and others refuse todistribute it under Hamas’s threats and control. Hamas is using starvation as a tool against its own people; Israel continues its work to get aid to innocent Palestinians. 

We must ask about your glaring omissions. Why do you fail to mention the 50 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas under unimaginable conditions? Why do you fail to mention the absolutely evil Hamas videos of hostages Rom Bravslavski and Evyatar David showing them emaciated and forced to dig their own graves 40 meters underground after more than 660 days of captivity? Why do you ignore the atrocities of October 7, and Hamas’s ongoing war crimes? Your selective empathy sends the chilling message to many in Vermont’s Jewish community that we are unseen and unheard by the very leaders who have taken an oath to represent us. 

We appreciate your acknowledgment of rising antisemitism, but we must be clear:

statements like yours, repeating disproven amine narratives and ailing to nameHamas’s crimes, are fueling the hatred and threats we are experiencing here in Vermont. Just days ago, “Free Palestine” was spray-painted on a Vermont synagogue. Shalom Alliance has documented dozens of cases of antisemitic harassment and discrimination, many involving Jewish children in Vermont’s K-12 schools. 

We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and share these firsthand stories. We would like to work with you to build a just world where all lives are valued equally, and where no one – Jewish, Muslim, Christian, or other – fears for their safety. 

We understand Hamas, Iran’s IRGC, Qatar, and their proxies are running a global public relations campaign that is tragically effective. Yet we urge you: please do not dismiss our voices as mere political inconvenience. We are Jewish Vermonters, facing real hate every day in our Vermont communities, schools, and social spaces. Please join us in rejecting simplistic narratives that empower terrorists while demonizing the only democracy in the Middle East. Justice and peace demand moral clarity. There is no genocide. There is war, a war started and prolonged by Hamas. 

We stand ready to partner with you to ensure the rights and safety of all people. 

Sincerely, 

Ilana Siegelman, President 

Yoram Samets, Co-Founder 

Mike Kanarick, Co-Founder 

Rachel Feldman, Community Organizer