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Speakers urge lawmakers to defund Virginia Israel Advisory Board, propose redirecting line item to human services
Summary
A large block of public comment called on the General Assembly to defund or review the Virginia Israel Advisory Board (VIAB), objecting to dedicated taxpayer support for a single foreign country and urging lawmakers to reallocate roughly $300,000 in FY funding to housing, vouchers, or food programs for Virginians.
Dozens of speakers used their three minutes to criticize state funding for the Virginia Israel Advisory Board (VIAB) and urged the budget committees to remove the VIAB line item and redirect that money to pressing domestic needs.
Kishori Malakar and multiple other commenters said it is inappropriate for a state advisory board to operate with a dedicated taxpayer budget for a single foreign country. "When a wealthy foreign country can influence our state government to subsidize its businesses, that's corruption," a witness said, arguing the roughly $300,000 appropriation could instead pay housing subsidies for 15 to 20 people in need.
Amanda Eisenhower and Rasha Abdel Lateef urged legislators to consider the human‑rights implications and the message state funding sends to Palestinian Virginians. Zhandark Sanbar and Philip Farah, among others, provided specific line‑item numbers — $302,425 for the current fiscal year and a proposed increase to $316,665 in FY27 — and urged reallocation to school meals, housing vouchers and other domestic programs.
Speakers with family ties or community organizations described personal losses in Gaza and framed the VIAB appropriation as state policy that normalizes preferential treatment for a foreign nation rather than supporting Virginians in need. Other speakers criticized VIAB as an unaccountable lobbying conduit that directs incentives to Israeli companies rather than using the Virginia Economic Development Partnership procurement process.
Witnesses proposed concrete alternatives for the VIAB funds (SRAP vouchers, school meals and housing subsidies) and asked the committees to subject the board to the same oversight as other economic development programs or to eliminate its taxpayer funding entirely.
The hearing did not include committee votes; commentators called on legislators to consider redirecting the VIAB appropriation during conference negotiations.
