Public comment debate over war in Gaza continues into the new year

By Katie Northcott

Since April, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors meetings have become increasingly flooded with comments about the war in Gaza.

A statement posted by Vice Chair Juli Briskman (D-Algonkian) on April 4, 2024 catalyzed the debate. Briskman posted a statement titled “Statement on Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza” on X supporting an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The statement was printed on Board of Supervisors letterhead and was posted from Briskman’s supervisor account, @SupBriskman.

Briskman’s statement was not unique. According to NPR, over 100 U.S. cities and towns have passed ceasefire resolutions over the war in Gaza, including Atlanta, Detroit, and St. Louis. On Feb. 27, 2024 the Harrisonburg City Council became the first city government in Virginia to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The resolution also called for humanitarian aid to be sent to Gaza and for negotiation to secure the release of hostages.

These municipal demands for a ceasefire come as the United States remains one of the nine United Nations member nations opposed to the UN’s resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. According to an article posted to the UN’s website on Dec. 11, the United States opposes to the resolution because it “risks sending a dangerous message” to Hamas that “there is no need to negotiate or release the hostages.”

At the Loudoun board’s April 16 business meeting, the first business meeting following Briskman’s post, thirteen Loudoun residents spoke at the public input sessions about Briskman’s actions. The speakers expressed concerns about the divisiveness of Briskman’s statements, adding that international conflicts are not within the board’s purview as a county-level governing body.

“Throughout the county, many people were hurt and affected by what was said and the statement that came out,” Rabbi Chaim Cohen said at the April 16 meeting. “As a rabbi, I ask that whatever follow up statement needs to happen to correct inaccurate information should be done.”

Cohen thanked the board members for having a private meeting with him and other rabbis prior to the meeting.

At the April 16 meeting, Chair Phyllis Randall (D-At Large) said that the supervisors were not planning to pass or even consider a ceasefire resolution.

 “I set the agenda. No supervisor has asked me one time to put a resolution on the agenda and as the person that sets the agenda, were I asked, I would not do that,” Randall said.

Supervisors Laura TeKrony (D-Little River), Kristen Umstattd (D-Leesburg), Caleb Kershner (R-Catoctin), and Matthew Letourneau (D-Dulles) commented that they would not support a ceasefire resolution and thought the board should focus on local issues.

Prior to Briskman’s comment, some public speakers had asked the Board of Supervisors to pass a ceasefire resolution, but the comments received little attention. This changed at the board’s May 7 business meeting when Loudoun resident James Russell appeared in a keffiyeh, a scarf that has become a symbol of the American pro-Palestinian movement.

“We, in the district, collectively compelled our supervisor to make a statement critical of the military campaign in Gaza. Our supervisor, Juli E. Briskman, made that statement, and we appreciate you very much for it. In fact, we wish she’d used even stronger language,” Russell said. “Unfortunately, her statement was met with lacking support from her colleagues on this board.”

Russell said that saying the war in Gaza is not a local issue is a “cretinous position.” He said that Loudoun residents have family members in Gaza and that the United States government is resourcing the war. He asked the board to pass a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a total cessation of arms shipments to Israel, and withholding endorsements for President Biden and for all federal representatives who have voted to support the war.

When Russell walked down the middle aisle of the boardroom to return to his seat after his public comment, another Loudoun resident, Mark Winn, spat at his feet. Randall reprimanded Winn at the meeting and later apologized to Russell at the board’s June 4 business meeting, saying Winn had received a ticket. 

“[Briskman] has divided a county between the Jewish community and the Muslim community with no benefit at all to its residents,” Loudoun resident Donna Widawski said at the May 7 meeting.

Throughout the months of June, July, September, and October, a steadily increasing number of pro-Palestinian Loudoun residents joined Russell to comment in support of a ceasefire resolution. Their demands began to include divestment from any companies that support Israel. They named Raytheon, BAE Systems, and Grumman as such companies.

Members in support of Loudoun’s Jewish community and Israel also appeared at the meetings to oppose a ceasefire resolution. Randall expressed frustration, asking one pro-Israel commenter if he thought the board was considering passing a ceasefire resolution since she had clearly stated multiple times that no resolution would be proposed. 

Former candidate for Chair of the Board of Supervisors, Gary Katz explained why he thought people were commenting in opposition to a nonexistent resolution at the board’s Nov. 7 meeting.

“Why are you seeing the Jewish community and allies come out? It’s because you’ve been seeing this board room being used as a platform to amplify antisemitism within the broader county and also to attempt to institutionalize it into county policy,” Katz said. “And some of that has been enabled by this board.”

Katz said that Briskman’s April 4 post signaled to the Loudoun community that there was an appetite for a ceasefire resolution. He called for the supervisors to rebuke antisemitism in their board comments and to make it clear that there is no appetite for a ceasefire resolution.

During his comment, Katz said that gallery members should be given cough drops as they kept coughing to drown out his words.

Randall followed Katz’s comment by saying that she would not stop anyone from speaking but that there would be no resolution coming forward. She also reminded Katz that she had corrected members of the gallery for coughing to drown out his voice while he spoke. She wanted to allow all sides of the issue to be heard. 

The tension climaxed at the board’s Nov. 19 business meeting, when over 15 public comments were made in support of and in opposition to a ceasefire resolution. One commenter, Maya Bazar, opened her statement by saying, “Good evening board members; bad evening to the Zionists.” Loudoun County resident Carolyn Barrett compared Katz to Adolph Hitler.

“That man condemned my child’s cough while aligning with genocide like Adolph, and you have the audacity to call me anti-semitic,” Barrett said.

During the meeting, Randall asked commenters to refrain from calling other citizens names.

At their Dec. 3 business meeting, the supervisors used some of their time during board comments to address public comments made on Nov. 19 calling for the board to pass a ceasefire resolution. Supervisors Kershner, Umstattd, and Letourneau said they would consider some of the comments made at the previous meeting antisemitic.

“Many comments were made at the November 19 meeting that were virulently antisemitic,” Umstattd said. “Tonight, I would agree with my colleague Mr. Kershner the rhetoric was toned down a bit. Except as one of our Jewish citizens was leaving the board meeting, passing some of the anti-Israeli speakers, they called him a nazi. That is vicious antisemitism.”

At the same meeting, Briskman said she made a mistake in making a public statement on this topic in April.

“It would be inappropriate for us to do any resolution or speak out on this topic. I made a mistake when I did so and made a mistake about putting it on my county letterhead,” she said.

Randall said she refused to weigh in on this issue because she had done extensive outreach and kept hearing equally tragic accounts from both sides. She doesn’t have an answer on how to end the tragedy.

“This issue didn’t happen on October 7, and it didn’t happen in 1948. This is a biblically long issue,” she said. “To ask me which mother deserves to lay over her dead child’s body and cry is not something I can answer.”

On Jan. 15, 2025, Israel and Gaza officially announced that they had reached a ceasefire agreement. This did not satisfy the group calling for a ceasefire resolution from the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. The group appeared at the board’s Jan. 22 business meeting with yellow signs that read “DIVEST NOW.” Speakers called for the board to divest from the “apartheid state of Israel” and oppose “a slew of overtly oppressive bills” that are currently being considered by the Virginia state legislature.

It was unclear what actions the group believed the board should take to divest from Israel. However, speakers mentioned three bills that they would like the board to oppose: House Bill 2529, House Bill 1650, and Senate Bill 1247.

House Bill 1650 pertains to anti-terrorism. House Bill 2529 prohibits public institutions of higher education from certain divestment practices. Senate Bill 1247 prohibits public institutions of higher education from making agreements with countries of concern to the United States.

Umstattd was the only board member to address the Gaza issue during board comments.

“Israel allows Arab citizens, Muslim citizens, Christian citizens, as well as Jewish citizens to have full voting rights, representation in government, and equal access to public services,” she said. “Calling Israel an apartheid state trivializes the suffering of those who actually endured apartheid.”