Members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors seem to be standing firm in staying out of political and military issues in the Mideast.
But that hasn’t stopped community members seeking support for a permanent ceasefire between Israel, Hamas and related players to continue pressing their efforts.
“We have been asking you for months,” Najla Drooby said during the public comment period of the board’s Oct. 22 meeting. She asked local officials to avoid the temptation to “look the other way in the face of a grave injustice.”
A number of audience members held signs and Palestinian flags in support of her comments, but supervisors didn’t respond beyond thanking Drooby for participating.
Residents have regularly called for county leaders to take a stand on the violence that has gripped the Middle East, most recently since Hamas attacked Israel, killing over 1,000 people and took hostages on Oct. 7, 2023. The assault prompted Israel to launch airstrikes on Gaza that have now reportedly killed at least 42,000 people — a response that critics have decried as heavy-handed and indiscriminate.
Last October, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay expressed shock at the initial Hamas attack and Israel’s retaliatory bombing, acknowledging the violence’s impact on many community members, but since then, the board has declined to get involved.
During a public comment period at the board’s Sept. 24 meeting, Annie Hadfield asked supervisors to “value Palestinian children the same as you value Israeli children or Ukrainian children or white American children.”
“Fairfax County hasn’t issued a single statement or offer of support, not a single effort to recognize the Palestinian lives that have been lost,” Hadfield said. “Your silence in the face of this genocide speaks loudly.”
Hadfield was one of multiple speakers on the topic at the Sept. 24 meeting. Even more pressed to be allowed to speak, but Chairman Jeff McKay declined to bend established procedures to allow it.
“There are rules for public comment. I only have 10 slots,” McKay said then, urging community members seeking to share their views to write to supervisors or return for a future public comment session.
Proponents of a permanent Mideast ceasefire have attempted to gain support from a number of local jurisdictions. Advocates in May temporarily shut down an Alexandria City Council meeting, but came away empty-handed.
After first seeming to consider the possibility of issuing a ceasefire resolution, Arlington elected officials also opted to stay out of the issue.
“Foreign policy remains outside the purview of the Arlington County Board as a local government,” Arlington County Board Chairman Libby Garvey (D) said in a letter to advocates. “This is a responsibility that rests on the shoulders of our federal representatives.”
Taking sides in an international issue “would neither be appropriate nor helpful at this time,” Garvey wrote in May.
She pointed those with an interest in the matter to local members of Congress. But at the Oct. 22 Fairfax County board meeting, Drooby suggested that approach was largely a waste of time.
“Our congressmen will not listen to us unless we bring hundreds of thousands of dollars with us so they can campaign for re-election,” she said.
The issue of Mideast conflicts momentarily took the spotlight at a recent 8th District U.S. House of Representatives candidates debate sponsored by the Arlington NAACP. Incumbent Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said he disagreed with President Joe Biden’s approach to the ongoing conflict.
“I’ve been very disappointed in the light touch he’s used,” Beyer said, while also criticizing Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who “doesn’t pay any attention to what we think.”
Beyer, whose district includes portions of eastern Fairfax County as well as Arlington, Alexandria and Falls Church, said he has long supported a ceasefire in the region.
