If this is Monday, I must be in Jerusalem: It’s the interim period at the Hawaiʻi Legislature, the time when lawmakers are tending to constituent needs, holding fundraisers, working on future legislation and traveling on official business. That business, apparently, includes the state of Israel.

House Republican Reps. Diamond Garcia, David Alcos, Julie Reyes Oda and Garner Shimizu, Democrat Rep. Mark Hashem and GOP Sen. Samantha DeCorte were part of a 50 States, One Israel delegation that visited the Holy Land last week.

The Times of Israel reported that the 250 American state legislators were making a first-of-its-kind visit — from Sept. 14-18 — as Israel’s foreign ministry “intensifies efforts to bring in foreign delegations amid mounting international criticism of the war in Gaza.”

They went to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana as well as to tour the country including the Gaza border region, where they planted trees “in a visit designed to highlight Israel’s security, economic and social realities.”

Efforts to isolate the Jewish state are “orchestrated by the same forces that supported Iran,” Netanyahu told the legislators, accusing China and Qatar of spearheading attacks on the Jewish state’s “very legitimacy” in the United States and on social media, JNS reported. (It’s a news agency covering Israel and the Jewish world.)

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The Jewish state is “drowning in a sea of fake, of lies,” Sa’ar told them, “so your presence here is more important than ever. You are on the ground, seeing Israel and the truth with your own eyes.”

Reached via text, Garcia (that’s him giving the shaka in the photo top right) confirmed the tree planting but did not have anything else to say about the trip. He did share a PDF, however, of a joint declaration between Hawaiʻi and Israel in 2022 establishing a “strategic partnership for friendly exchanges and cooperation” between the two states.

“Two-way trade between Hawaii and Israel totaled over $10 million in 2020,” the declaration states.

The trip is getting mixed reports elsewhere.

Boise State Public Radio News, for example, noted that the Israel-sponsored visit coincided with the invasion of Gaza City. “We were assured that our attendance is not an endorsement of the current government but rather an opportunity to learn and ask questions,” Rep. Ilana Rubel (D-Boise), told the station.

“This is alarming and totally not okay,” one person posted to the ministry’s Instagram page.

But don’t worry, this trip isn’t costing taxpayers a dime. U.S. taxpayers, anyway.

Cathy Lee, who handles House communications, emailed The Blog Friday: “The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Southwest are covering lodging, and air and ground transportation. Travel expenses reimbursable under the legislative allowance require advance approval by the House Speaker, which means members must first submit a request for the use of legislative allowance, then follow up with an allowance claim. At this time, the House has not covered any costs related to this visit.”

Lee’s counterpart in the Senate, Zoe Wilks, meantime, said DeCorte’s trip was approved by the Senate president and that the Senate “is not covering any of the expenses related to the trip.”

DC 808: Even by 2025 standards, Friday was a particularly partisan day in Congress.

We moved closer to a Sept. 30 federal government shutdown when the Senate rejected both Republican and Democratic funding proposals.

Still, Hawaiʻi Sen. Brian Schatz found a little humor in the situation on his personal X account:

“Today two bills to keep the government open failed, one Dem proposal and one Republican proposal,” Schatz said. “Then the Republicans started to negotiate a compromise. And by ʻnegotiate a compromiseʻ I mean they left town for a recess until after the deadline.”

Hawaiʻi’s other senator, Mazie Hirono, didnʻt sound very compromising on her X account:

“Republicans have taken full control of our federal budget with ZERO respect for bipartisanship,” Hirono wrote. “Now, they want Democrats to roll over and vote for a bill that will only add to the terrors brought on by their Big Ugly Bill, without even sitting down with us.

“I don’t think so.”

The GOP funding bill narrowly squeaked by the House, with both of Hawaiʻi’s reps voting no.

All of which inspires The Blog to say: Shutdown, here we come.

On the same day, Congress passed a resolution honoring assassinated political influencer Charlie Kirk and calling for an end to political violence.

Hawaiʻi Rep. Jill Tokuda was fine with ending political violence but not so much with honoring Kirk since the resolution praised him as someone who “worked tirelessly to promote unity.”

Tokuda was one of 38 representatives who voted “present” rather then support or oppose the resolution.

Hawaiʻi Rep. Ed Case joined 94 of his Democratic colleagues who voted yes, choosing to emphasize the resolutionʻs anti-violence message.

Senators didn’t hold a roll call vote, passing the resolution by whatʻs called — probably inaccurately in this case — “unanimous consent.”

And then there were nine: The Hawaiʻi Elections Commission is back being fully staffed. Two of its nine members bailed last month just as the commission is about to consider reports of election discrepancies and the status of the person who runs state elections.

House Speaker Nadine Nakamura on Sept. 3 appointed James “Kimo” Apana, a Democrat and former Maui County mayor and council member who also ran for a state House seat twice, to fill one of the two Maui seats.

And Senate President Ron Kouchi on Sept. 2 named John Sabas, a Honolulu lobbyist with strong ties to the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi, to fill one of the two Oʻahu seats.

The appointments are certain to influence the commission’s work, where political divisions are clear among several members. The allegations that 2024 general elections on the counties of Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi and the demand that chief election officer Scott Nago be fired have come primarily from Republicans.

It takes five commissioners to make a majority, so even one vote could make all the difference on commission business. The agency was expected to meet again Wednesday but, as of Friday, no meeting or agenda had been posted.

Moving on: A dozen years after he took over the University of Hawaiʻi’s financial affairs, budget chief Kalbert Young is jumping ship to run the state’s Employees’ Retirement System.

Effective Jan. 2, Young will lead the management of the ERS’s $24 billion portfolio that provides retirement benefits to more than 158,000 beneficiaries, the pension fund board announced in a press release last week.

Young is vice president for budget and finance of the UH system, a position he’s held since January 2014. Young joined the UH after serving as former Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s budget chief for four years.