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Anti-Israel coalition asks for resignations, ethics probe
By Guy Page and Bill Moore
An anti-Israel coalition called on five Vermont legislators to resign during a press conference Tuesday at the Statehouse, alleging ethical concerns over their participation in a September, 2025 trip to Israel.
One of the five lawmakers says she fears for her safety following the action taken by the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation, an umbrella organization that includes several Vermont socialist groups.
“I am disturbed and unsettled by the reaction of a small number of people to my trip to Israel. I have been threatened and fear for my safety at this point. I took the trip to learn and ask tough questions,” Rep. Gina Galfetti (R-Barre Town) said in a statement forwarded to VDC and also published in the local Rutland Herald/Times-Argus. Galfetti, who also condemned the Netanyahu government’s actions in Gaza, said the group has “pushed an incendiary false narrative designed to spread disinformation and increase political discord.”
The press conference calling for legislators who visited Israel to resign and also face an ethics probe was organized by a Chittenden County state senator who herself visited a foreign country in her official capacity in March during the 2025 legislative session. Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky (D/P Chittenden Central) opened the event Tuesday saying she had “invited the VT Coalition for Palestinian Liberation to the Statehouse to share this message today…”.
Vyhovsky was a featured speaker in the ‘Ukraine Solidarity Campaign’ in London and Brussels in March. Her absence led Senate leaders to delay a vote on repealing the Clean Heat Standard.
Reps. Will Greer (D-Bennington), Matthew Birong (D-Vergennes), Sarita Austin (D-Colchester), James Gregoire (R-Fairfield), and Galfetti visited Israel in September as part of a State of Israel outreach to state legislators. The Vermont Legislature was not in session then.
Speakers and sponsoring organizations included VCPL, Jewish Voice for Peace Vermont–New Hampshire, Rev. Chelsea Page of the United Church of Christ in Burlington, Rural Vermont, and Migrant Justice. Ashley Smith of VCPL emceed the event, reading a statement from Mohsen Mahdawi and delivering a Migrant Justice statement at the close.
VCPL and allied groups repeated claims that five Vermont legislators violated ethical standards by accepting travel to Israel, urging their resignation and calling for stricter ethics rules. Speakers did not allege that the trips violated any specific law or legislative rule, but said the travel conflicted with the political and ideological views of pro-Palestinian groups.
Central to the message was a petition urging lawmakers to “uphold Vermont’s values,” demand the resignations, and pass H.168, which VCPL described as a bill to defend “freedom of speech for all activists, including Palestinians and Palestinian solidarity activists.” No specific examples of activists being denied free speech were cited during the event.
The five legislators targeted by the campaign have publicly defended the trip, describing it as a fact-finding and cultural exchange opportunity. They have said they do not intend to resign and emphasized that the itinerary allowed interaction with a wide range of Israelis, including Jewish, Christian, Muslim, secular, and Arab citizens. Trip organizers and participants have stated that conversations with Arab Israelis were neither restricted nor discouraged.
Critics argued the legislators failed to visit Gaza; supporters of the trip countered that travel warnings from the U.S. State Department and Israeli authorities made such travel unsafe at the time of the September 2025 visit.
Legislative attendance at the press conference was sparse, which observers described as unusual for advocacy events at the Statehouse. Only Vyhovsky and Rep. Saudia LaMont (D–Lamoille-Washington) were noted as attending. It was unclear whether either spoke at the event, and organizers did not open the floor to questions, citing time constraints and the need to clear the room for the next event. Press attendance, however, was robust.
The coalition said it has filed or plans to file submissions with the Vermont Ethics Commission, joined by Jewish Voice for Peace Vermont–New Hampshire, asking the House Ethics Panel to find that the legislators accepted gifts in violation of 3 VSA §1203(b) and (g). The groups also alleged, without presenting evidence at the event, that the legislators were invited “primarily to be lobbied by high government officials” with an expectation of supporting Israel-friendly legislation in Vermont.
No findings have been issued by the Ethics Commission, and the legislators involved have denied any wrongdoing.
“The most recent bi-partisan international trip of five Vermont State Representatives has garnered much attention. This is not the first international trip taken by Vermont State Representatives and it will not be the last,” said House Minority Leader Pattie McCoy. ‘We support State Representatives who reach out and travel to engage in, and build, international relations. Through these efforts Vermont has built business partners that continue to increase our economic presence globally, allowing Vermont businesses to grow and thrive.”
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Categories: Public Safety, State Government
“Democrat-Socialists” are threatening her??? But how could this be? I mean the word “democrat” is right within the party’s name and haven’t they been “justified” in somehow (albeit violently) fighting against the current POTUS and all his supporters within the citizenry in order to “protect democracy”???? And wasn’t Ms. Galfetti duly elected to her position by will of the people?
Imagine…we may be being lied to. Imagine, our legislators appear to be trying to undermine our fellow Americans’ innate rights to travel freely & our right to freedom of speech……here’s a very exercise in such free speech that might sometime soon be prohibited should these radicals have their way…..”Sarita Austin, for one, is a hypocritical, vengeful, Communistic jerk”. Free. Speech. Examples.
And by the way, Communists of the VT legislature: The ONLY Vermont “values” that matter are those contained within the U.S. and State Constitutions & perhaps our state motto: FREEDOM & UNITY!!!!!!! Not those you make up along the way to suit yourselves and your dissident movement.
Vermonters: Practice FREEDOM always as it is a gift bestowed by God alone. Also practice UNITY – a united front comprised of patriotic, faith-based, peaceful peoples who do so to preserve this Union, ensure the pursuit of life, liberty, and justice, and one NOT based upon what state they may have arbitrarily been birthed in.
I wonder if those who are threatening this representative are those Right Wing- White Supremacist who the Liberals are constantly harping on as the greatest threat to this country? This is truly reflective of those who consistently harp about how inclusive and tolerant those on the Left in Vermont’s socio-politcal arena are!
Rural Vermont is such a disgraceful joke. They switched missions from serving Vermont farmers to hating on them. Maybe when all the dairy farms are gone, the migrant justice crowd will buy up the lands, pay the taxes, and run the farms they have helped destroy. Rural Vermont needs to pack it in and go become urban NYC, or whatever it really is. Carpetbagging social justice exploiters of our culture and farmers who actually work the land.
And legislators can travel to Israel without being called upon to resign. These virtue-signaling shills spend far too much time grooming themselves in the mirror to show off how woke (and intolerant, and racist) they are….. Vyhovsky is the one who should resign!
Well said Mr Klar, well said. Ps. If you are originally from CT, you are one of those “New Vermonters” that came here and embraced what made Vermont special. You didn’t try to change it to what you came from, like so many other “New Vermonters”.
Release all of the Epstein files and stop this dog and pony show. There is no hero in Washington and Vermont is headed down with no federal aid.
Gina, Did you poke the Commies teady bear ? Do lt again ! I love seeing them cry !
Hey Guy, When are we going to get an edit button so I can fix my #$%^&* mistakes ?
The hubris and hypocritical gaslighting of those criticizing these legislators is staggering. Often it is those who cry foul the loudest who are guilty of the very thing of which they wrongly accuse others. Case in point, Vyhovsky, who took a foreign trip mid-session last year. And yet she condemns others? Would she have made a peep if the trip made by the four reps was to some other country?
Once Israel, Jewish persons, or Christians are involved, the attacks and criticisms hit demonic and irrational levels. It’s always been and will always be that way until the accuser and his minions are thrown into and locked in hell once and for all.
Agreed. Israel represents God. The God of the Judeo-Christian way and sometimes without even fully realizing why, it stirs immense hostility and furor by especially the Communist atheists who believe power, control, & authority somehow belong to them & their wayward government as opposed to the Creator Himself.
Utterly ridiculous, baseless, and egomaniacal, but as you state, it has been this way since God revealed Himself to the world.
Re: Anti-Israel coalition asks for resignations, ethics probe.
Subtitle correction: Commiecrats asks for resignations, ethics probe.
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I do not condone these threats against our representatives. They are totally off base. On the other side of the coin, however, I question why a STATE representative has any business visiting a foreign country much less commenting on international concerns. That is the role of the State Department. I hope no state money was used to finance the trip.