Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke out on Wednesday against what he said was the distorted view of the Jewish state spread via the media, saying it resulted in people missing out on the “great contribution to humanity” that this “nation of huge values” provides.

Israel’s “ironclad bond with the United States of America [exists] because we drink from the same fountain: the values of the Bible,” Herzog said in an address to the 250 U.S. state legislators who recently paid a visit to Israel.

“What brought America to be so great is what makes Israel so great as well,” he added.

The largest-ever delegation of U.S. elected officials to the Jewish state planted 50 trees on Tuesday in the Negev Desert city of Ofakim—one for each state in America—in a symbolic gesture honoring the depth of the bond between Israel and the United States.

The lawmakers toured areas in southern Israel that were attacked by Hamas and other terrorist groups, as well as Gaza civilians, on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Two years after Oct. 7, we are still mourning, still rebuilding, and we are still fighting. But we are also planting for a future where Israel is safer, stronger and more vibrant than ever before,” Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel told the lawmakers, who had gathered in a covered tent under the late-summer sun.

The bipartisan delegation, dubbed “50 States One Israel,” reaffirmed America’s unflinching commitment to and friendship with Israel despite the international opprobrium over the ongoing war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday welcomed the delegation to Jerusalem, noting that there was an ongoing “active effort” to erode the ties between the two countries.

These efforts are “orchestrated by the same forces that supported Iran,” he continued, accusing China and Qatar of spearheading attacks on the Jewish state’s very legitimacy in the United States and on social media.

“We can break this siege, and we will,” the prime minister vowed.

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