Mississippi Legislature establishes Israel caucus
Consul General Sultan-Dadon and Political Affairs Director Karen Isenberg-Jones (left of Consul General) with the co-chairs and members of the newly established Mississippi-Israel Legislative Caucus. Courtesy the Israeli Consulate.
On Feb. 25, Mississippi joined the growing number of states to have an Israel Legislative Caucus.
Consul General Anat Sultan-Dadon, from Israel’s consulate to the Southeast in Atlanta, announced the launch at the State Capitol, and make numerous other visits.
“This bipartisan and bicameral caucus will serve as a platform to further strengthen our strong relations,” Sultan-Dadon said.
The bipartisan caucus will be headed by Jeremy England, a Vancleave Republican, and Heidelberg Democrat Juan Barnett in the Senate, and by Republican Hank Zuber of Ocean Springs and Democrat Otis Anthony of Indianola in the House.
England said he was invited by Reeves to meet Sultan-Dadon during a previous visit a couple years ago and they became “fast friends.” The idea of the caucus was mentioned a month ago, and “I agreed immediately.”
England said the caucus “will strengthen the already-close bond between Mississippi and Israel, and I look forward to working with the Consul General to maintain a long-lasting and mutually-beneficial relationship between Mississippi and Israel.”
According to the legislative resolution, the caucus has a goal of “strengthening political, economic, and cultural bonds (that) will be of mutual benefit to both regions, resulting in advancing trade relations, facilitating educational exchanges, and promoting cultural understanding to maintain and strengthen the overall relationship between Mississippi and Israel.”
Specific areas mentioned at the launch were artificial intelligence, supercomputing and cyber security, as well as medical research into autism and other areas. A cybersecurity center is planned for Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, and an AI hub is being built near the coast.
During the Phil Bryant administration, there were several Mississippi trade missions to Israel, and a 2015 Israel Meets Mississippi business summit in Jackson. There was also a homeland security conference in Biloxi in 2018, where most of the exhibitors were from Israel.
In 2023, Mississippi and Israel had about $47 million in trade. In 2023 and 2024, the Israeli Navy received two landing vessels built in the Pascagoula Shipyard. Captain Guy Barak, Israel’s Naval Attache to the United States, told Southern Jewish Life this week that because of the war in Gaza and against Hezbollah in Lebanon, both ships were quickly put into service.
A couple Palestinian protestors showed up for the caucus announcement. Sultan-Dadon noted that to truly benefit the Palestinians, those protestors should be standing with Israel to rid Gaza of Hamas.
During her visit, Sultan-Dadon also met with Governor Tate Reeves and Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann.
She also held a question and answer session at the Jackson Police Department headquarters, moderated by Police Chief Joseph Wade, and spoke at the annual meeting of the Mississippi Federation of Republican Women.
She also spoke to Jackson’s Jewish community at Beth Israel on Feb. 23, in a conversation with Marla Harb.
Sultan-Dadon also paid a return visit to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, this time for a tour focusing on Black History Month and key moments in the civil rights battles.
She also spoke at Tougaloo College, a historically Black Christian college. There was a roundtable discussion with the executive cabinet, and another with student leaders. She also toured the Tougaloo Archives.
Tougaloo is where Ernst Borinski taught for 35 years, and he is buried on campus. A German-Jewish sociologist, he escaped Germany as the Holocaust was beginning, and was one of many Jewish scholars who wound up at Southern Black colleges after being frozen out from northern campuses.
Borinski organized integrated gatherings despite Mississippi’s strict segregation laws, and actively worked to undermine Jim Crow.
Caucuses in the region
The Alabama-Israel Legislative Caucus was launched in May 2024. Georgia established a caucus in 2022, and Kentucky formed one in 2023.
In Tennessee, House leaders authorized a caucus led by two House members who recently visited Israel, and a formal kickoff is expected in March. After pushback, the Democrat co-chair, Rep. Torrey Harris of Memphis, reportedly asked for the establishment of a Palestine caucus as well, but that was rejected by House leadership on Feb. 27.
Nashville’s WSMV-TV reported that Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Crossville Republican, said “I am not going to approve of a caucus for the state of Palestine which provides safe harbor to terrorists and rejoices in the destruction and death of Israelis and Americans.”
Rep. Scott Cepicky of Culleoka is the Republican co-chair for the planned caucus.
The other states in the Atlanta consulate’s region are North Carolina and South Carolina. In 2023, an attempt to establish a Jewish caucus in the North Carolina Democratic Party was finally successful in early December after initially being rejected.
