Mayor Muriel Bowser is headed on a diplomatic and trade delegation to Israel next week, where she will join the D.C. Chamber of Commerce in trying to attract technology firms and foreign direct investment. She will also be a featured speaker at a cybersecurity conference in Tel Aviv.

The mayor mentioned the trip in her March address to the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “My team and I will travel to Israel to engage with Israeli businesses, organizations, and leaders,” Bowser said. “We will establish diplomatic and trade relationships, learn about Israel’s technology and innovation firms, and explore investment opportunities and promote tourism between our nations.”

The delegation also includes two councilmembers—Ward 4’s Brandon Todd and At-large Councilmember Anita Bonds—among 10 representatives of D.C. government, and more than 30 travelers representing private sector and non-profit leaders, like D.C. Chamber of Commerce CEO and former councilmember Vincent Orange, D.C. United owner Jason Levien, and representatives of Capital City Realty, Roadside Development, Coloma River Capital, and more.

A coalition of progressive and community organizations is objecting to the six-day trip, and it has sent an open letter to the D.C. Council imploring them not to go. The groups include Black Lives Matter D.C., D.C. Statehood Green Party, 350 D.C., National Lawyers Guild, and If Not Now D.C. They write that councilmembers “should listen to community organizers and tenants calling for equitable housing and development policies—instead of spending taxpayer money, time, and energy attempting to charm Israeli tech and real estate corporations to D.C.”

According to a D.C. Chamber of Commerce letter to potential delegates, the mission costs $4,400 per person for coach tickets, $7,500 for economy plus, or $10,705 for business class, and includes roundtrip airfare from Dulles Airport to Tel Aviv, accomodations at a 5-star hotel, visa processing, tours, receptions, meeting arrangements, and more. Bowser’s office has not responded to repeated questions about who is paying for the trip, or otherwise provided comment. As mayor, Bowser has visited China twice, and each trip had a budget in the range of tens of thousands of dollars, according to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.

The coalition letter also criticizes Bowser’s decision to speak at Cyber Week, an international annual cybersecurity event. “Bowser’s decision to participate in this conference—sponsored by military contractors that profit from military occupation and facilitate human rights violations—sends a clear message that she is more interested in investing in a corporate, gentrified, and militarized vision of D.C. than investing in the people she represents,” the letter reads.

Chase Carter, an organizers with the local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, says that the stated goal of the delegation, to bring tech companies and real estate investment to the District, “is going to negatively impact residents,” and points to the low-income population in D.C. that is currently experiencing vast displacement.

Carter adds that the coalition isn’t just opposed to this one trip: “What we’re standing against is a connection that the District and Israel have that go beyond this delegation.” Metropolitan Police Department chiefs and commanders regularly attend an annual training program called the Anti-Defamation League’s National Counter-Terrorism Seminar, which sends top brass in U.S. law enforcement to “learn in Israel about the evolving nature of terrorism and how to ensure safety for civilian populations.”

Additionally, Bowser has a history of expressing her support for the state of Israel. She joined 50 state governors in signing a letter to condemn the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. BDS says it “works to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law,” but the letter Bowser signed characterized it as an effort “to demonize and delegitimize Israel.”

But Carter says that the coalition isn’t just about Israel, and they’d have the same objections about another trip to China or to a different country. “The council and the mayor’s office don’t need to spend their time away from the District going on all these trips when the answers are right here in our city,” he says.