Heather Johnston
I looked at then-Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) like he had a screw loose.
We were on a congressional delegation in Israel in 2011, and he kept asking to see Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. At the time, Iron Dome was new, highly classified and very much not on our itinerary. Each time he raised the question, I wondered how on earth I could possibly make that happen.
But Lamborn, bless him, did not let it go.
A few days later, our delegation met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
During his briefing, the prime minister spoke briefly about Iron Dome as part of the U.S.-Israel defense partnership. When he finished, he turned to me and asked a question. I did something bold and perhaps a bit foolish: I ignored the question. Instead, I asked whether our members could see Iron Dome in person.
Netanyahu paused. He leaned over and whispered to one of his cabinet members. Then he folded his hands, nodded and said yes. He agreed to declassify the system by the following morning so our delegation could visit it.
The next day, our group became the first group of American lawmakers to see Iron Dome up close. I recalled the prophecy of Isaiah 60:10-11: “Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion. Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations — their kings led in triumphal procession.”
The words stayed with me as we took in what we were seeing. The Congress members were stunned. This was not an abstract briefing or a theoretical capability. It was a functioning defensive shield — a miraculous technology designed not to conquer territory, but to save human life.
That visit changed what happened next.
When the members returned to Washington, they convened colleagues on the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees. They spoke not from talking points but firsthand experience. Within two months, a bipartisan group of five congressmen led by Lamborn introduced legislation to triple U.S. funding for Israel’s missile defense program. It passed both chambers of Congress, and then-President Barack Obama signed it into law.
A year later, when Hamas launched thousands of rockets toward Israeli cities, Iron Dome stood between civilians and catastrophe. It intercepted roughly 90% of incoming rockets aimed at populated areas. Countless lives were saved.
That outcome did not begin in a committee room. It began with members of Congress walking dusty roads, asking persistent questions and seeing reality for themselves.
The purpose of the organization I lead, the U.S.-Israel Education Association, is to facilitate precisely this kind of firsthand exposure for American lawmakers in Israel.
I have watched that same dynamic repeat itself in the years since.
Most recently, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) traveled to Israel and to Judea and Samaria, both as a member of Congress and later as speaker, on congressional delegations we helped organize. After seeing the region firsthand and meeting with local leaders, he spoke with a clarity that only experience can bring. “I do not understand why we debate this anew every single day,” he said.
That conviction did not emerge from a briefing memo or a position paper. It came from being there, standing on the ground, seeing the geography, understanding the proximity of communities to threats and grasping why these questions are not theoretical to the people who live with their consequences every day.
This is what congressional travel does at its best. It replaces abstraction with empirical knowledge.
In Washington, debates about Israel are often conducted through maps without people and arguments without sensory experience. But governing responsibly requires more than secondhand briefings and filtered narratives. It requires presence. When members of Congress see Israel for themselves — its borders, its defenses, its vulnerabilities, its innovations — they return with a seriousness that cannot be replicated in a hearing room.
In February 2026, USIEA will once again bring congressional members to visit Israel. The challenges they will confront are different from those of 2011. They are no less urgent. Iran’s regional aggression remains a threat. Hezbollah is rearming. Missile technology continues to advance. Air and missile defense still matter. These issues affect U.S. allies across the region.
What remains unchanged is the principle. Policymakers make better decisions when they see with their own eyes.
I often think back to that moment in 2011 when I did not know exactly what I was doing but knew we had to move forward anyway. Leadership does not always mean certainty.
Sometimes, it means showing up, asking bold questions and trusting that clarity will follow.
In that case, it did. And the consequences were measured not only in legislation and budgets, but in lives saved. That is why we keep going back.
And why Congress should, too.
Heather Johnston is the founder and chief executive officer of the U.S.-Israel Education Association, a nonprofit organization that brings members of Congress to Israel.
