Activists calling for Fairfax County leaders to take a stance on the violence currently devastating the Middle East have again found themselves met with silence.
At the Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday (Tuesday), resident Rob Bradley used the public-comment period to urge local leaders to pass a resolution calling for an unconditional ceasefire between Israel, Hamas, which governs Gaza, and Hezbollah, the paramilitary group in Lebanon.
Part of the grassroots activist group Fairfax County for Palestine, Bradley also argued for the elimination of the Virginia-Israel Advisory Board (VIAB), a state government agency that assists Israeli firms seeking to establish local operations in the Old Dominion.
“Virginia is unique” in having such a taxpayer-funded government body, Bradley said.
He said Israel over the past year has responded to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas with excessive force targeting the broader Palestinian population. As of Oct. 31, the health ministry in Gaza reported that 43,972 Palestinians have died since Israel began bombarding the territory in retaliation for the Hamas attack, which killed an estimated 1,200 people.
A United Nations special committee released a report last week describing Israel’s treatment of Gaza, including reported obstructions of aid and attacks on civilians and humanitarian workers, as consistent “with the characteristics of genocide.”
Bradley told supervisors they would be complicit in “crimes against humanity” if they don’t take steps to address the ongoing situation.
As has been the case in the past, supervisors did not respond publicly to the request. Once Bradley, the last speaker in the public-comment period, finished his remarks, Board Chair Jeff McKay (D) thanked everyone for participating and promptly gaveled the meeting to a close.
Prior to the public comment period, McKay urged those in attendance to remain civil.
“Disruptive behavior will not be tolerated,” he said. “[It] would be a waste of everyone’s time.”
While no outbursts occurred during the public comments, activists chanted and held up signs after the meeting as supervisors exited the board room.
“Board of Supervisors, we see you and all the silencing that you do,” they said, followed by a chant of “Until Palestine is free, Palestine is all you’ll see.”
Prior to the public comment period, Fairfax County for Palestine held an “Art as Resistance” demonstration at the Fairfax County Government Center. Proponents said the event was designed as
“an urgent call to action, demanding that the Board address critical issues of Fairfax County of their investment in the Israeli apartheid system and genocide of Palestinians, in its directly managed retirement, pension funds, pooled funds at the state level and its partnership with VIAB.”
According to activists, the state-managed Local Government Investment Pool and the Virginia Retirement System have invested in companies that supply weapons or financing to Israel’s military.
“In 1990, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors divested from South African apartheid, voting to make no new investments in complicit companies, and to phase out existing investments,” Fairfax County for Palestine said in a statement preceding the event. “They cannot claim that divestment from apartheid and genocide in Palestine is outside of their scope of influence.”
The Virginia-Israel Advisory Board over the past two decades has helped bring approximately 100 Israeli companies to Virginia, including firms focused on aerospace, defense and cybersecurity.
The Board of Supervisors hosts a public-comment period at the end of one meeting per month. All 10 slots available for yesterday’s session were filled, with speakers addressing issues from the proposal for a casino in Tysons to affordable-housing efforts.
Advocates have pressed other local governments to get engaged in the issue, as well. In neighboring Arlington, the County Board seemed momentarily interested in weighing in earlier this year, but ultimately decided not to.
Jared Serre contributed to this report.
