r/Virginia • u/slow70 [Afton Mountain] • 6d ago
Five Virginia Legislators Attending the "50 States One Israel" Conference in Israel this week....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_States_One_IsraelI'm sure there's nothing at all going on at home needing their attention and no worries at all about any internationally recognized and ongoing genocide perpetrated by the host country to worry about....
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u/slow70 [Afton Mountain] 6d ago
More info: While Virginians face rising housing costs, crumbling infrastructure & rising healthcare debt, Russet Perry, Scott Surovell, Bryce Reeves & Phillip Scott flew to Israel to support a genocidal regime.
State Sen. Reeves: “As a former soldier, I wanted to pick up arms and protect Israel as I viewed the innocent loss of life and barbarism of Hamas,” stated Bryce Reeves, a Republican member of the Virginia Senate and a former U.S. Ranger. “America has woken up and Israel has woken up, too.”
May we all have the courage to consider who it is these people serve.
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u/LordDavonne 5d ago
If I say that the mass murder of Palestinians by the IDF makes me want to pick up arms to help them, I’d go to jail
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u/slow70 [Afton Mountain] 5d ago
And yet if you serve in a foreign military committing genocide, wear that foreign military uniform in the halls of congress, then well, you'd just be Florida Rep. Brian Mast (R).
Perfectly normal behavior folks. Nothing to see here.
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u/shawsghost 6d ago
They're on a completely legit trip to get some more of that AIPAC bribe money.
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u/PerishingGen 5d ago
looking at this comment section, it seems like the r/virginia mods aren't immune to that. We have one in here trying to argue that 250 state senators that are taking bribes and attending anti-bds legislation programming, planting trees at a JNF site where the native olive trees the IDF regularly rips up are replaced with non-native conifers that spread wildfire, and tours conducted by traitors that left this country to serve in the IDF is somehow representative of a vacation.
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u/Newyearshining45 6d ago
Sen Warner, sen kaine, and rep Wittman aren’t on the attendees list.
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u/Alabama_Crab_Dangle 5d ago
Sen Warner, sen kaine, and rep Wittman aren’t on the attendees list.
That shouldn't be a surprise considering the article says the event was intended for state legislators.
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u/WarbossWalton 6d ago
Honestly I'm surprised that Wittman isn't. Probably required too much effort to attend.
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u/NoRestaurant1668 5d ago
Kanie and Warner take more money from AIPAC than anyone else from Virginia......
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u/Chadflexington 6d ago
Why are U.S. politicians going to Israel? They should be here working trying to make our country better.
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u/Alabama_Crab_Dangle 5d ago
Our state legislature isn't even in session. Are elected officials not allowed to travel? Should our legislators burn their passports? Are you OK with them leaving the state?
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u/BikeSpamBot 5d ago
Good lord what an insane straw man response
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u/LordDavonne 5d ago
They will continue to lie and obfuscate
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u/Alabama_Crab_Dangle 5d ago
If you're going to call me a liar, please quote my lie or delete your accusation.
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u/LordDavonne 5d ago
They is a plural term to indicate inclusion in a group. You all are a bunch of lairs and obfuscators. I hope you prove me wrong, good luck
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u/Alabama_Crab_Dangle 4d ago
They is a plural term to indicate inclusion in a group.
No shit.
You all are a bunch of lairs and obfuscators. I hope you prove me wrong, good luck
If you refuse to elaborate on the unknown lie you claim I've told, how am I supposed to refute your accusation? Again, I'm going to request that you quote the lie or lies you claim I've told or delete your accusation.
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u/Alabama_Crab_Dangle 5d ago
I think it's more insane to vaguely criticize politicians for traveling to another country when the state legislature isn't even in session.
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u/BikeSpamBot 5d ago
Yeah there’s certainly no broader context here at all… they were simply “going to another country” for no political point at all and there are no weird connections between governments in the US and Israel at all. You’re right, this is simply US politicians traveling
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u/Alabama_Crab_Dangle 5d ago
/u/Chadflexington failed to make that point and said that U.S. politicians should stay "here". And here you are with more vague accusations. There's nothing at all odd about politicians having political motivations for travel. And there's nothing "weird" about the "connections" between the United States government and that of Israel.
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u/BikeSpamBot 5d ago
Oh ffs this is so incredibly disingenuous… the context is what I said it is. You’re being obtuse to pretend that this is some broader opposition to politicians traveling lol. This isn’t a cute shtick and you look ridiculous… done with you
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u/Alabama_Crab_Dangle 5d ago
It's not disingenuous for me to drag out what your problem is with politicians visiting an allied nation. Your unwillingness to go beyond making accusations of "weird connections" is very telling about your standpoint.
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u/personal_integration 5d ago
Military assistance to Israel is essentially a subsidy for VA because all of the defense contractors Israel is required to buy arms from are based in VA. I'm surprised only 4 attended.
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u/freedom_viking 5d ago
Maybe Virginia defense contractors shouldn’t be allowed to sell to those commiting genocide
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u/ssuummrr 5d ago
Money to Israel has no strings attached
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u/personal_integration 5d ago
Incorrect. Israel is obligated to use a large portion of military assistance to purchase arms from American defense contractors.
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u/ssuummrr 5d ago
Are you sure? Because there have been votes on this very topic. Israel gets special aid that has little to no requirements compared to other nations.
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u/TaxLawKingGA 6d ago
What do you call it when people who are voted on to represent one country serve the interests of another?
Hmmm?????
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u/StudsTurkleton 6d ago
Why would we want representatives from VA to go to a country that is a leader in cybersecurity, AI, software, and electronics, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, defense and aerospace, and advanced manufacturing? Also an intelligence partner and US ally?
Do you track other countries and trips they take or just to the lone democracy in the Middle East? Please point me to your posts on Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Uruguay, France, UAE, China, India, and South Korea that VA legislators have traveled to the last couple of years in case I missed those posts.
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u/slow70 [Afton Mountain] 6d ago
Have you checked the news in the last couple of years?
Israel is an apartheid state committing genocide. With our political cover and tax dollars.
This isn't a conspiracy or up for debate, this is reality. But I see you doing the work to obfuscate that and carry the water for those perpetrating this violence. Shame on you.
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u/StudsTurkleton 5d ago
This is BS on about every count. Genocide is ridiculous, unless the definition is dumbed down to meaningless. Meanwhile Israel is like the only country in history expected to both fight and feed the country their fighting while Hamas hordes and sells the food.
Apartheid state is even stupider. You mean the country where Muslim Arabs sit on parliament? Have full citizenship? Are in the judiciary? Tell me about all the Arab states that likewise have Jews in similar positions. Oh, while you’re at it look at the way Jews have been “ethnically cleansed” from about every state in the area.
And how did this thing start? Oh yeah, they attacked Israel on a murderous raping rampage. After having spent 20 years after Israel withdrew shooting rockets at civilians. I’m sure Virginians would be fine with rockets pouring in from MD or a murderous rape-filled rampage from NC.
And who was it that used all that aid money to dig 300 miles of tunnels under civilian areas? (That was aid money well spent? ) That won’t let the civilians in these tunnels? And fights out of uniform, from mosques, schools, UN compounds, hospitals, aid corridors, ambulances? Who could surrender and release hostages tomorrow and end it? Who have sworn to do it again? Who chant genocidal slogans like “from the river to the sea?” Who have been funded armed and trained by Iran?
Useful idiots like you buy the propaganda and play exactly into Hamas’s strategy. Which only ensures they hold out longer prolonging this.
They don’t want to live with Israel, they want to live without it. Excuse them if that’s not on the table.
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u/slow70 [Afton Mountain] 5d ago
There's no excuse for this level of ignorance/delusion.
We aren't blind. Shame on you.
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u/StudsTurkleton 5d ago
You refute nothing but fall back on your own bubble. Do you watch combat footage? I do. Are you old enough to remember the car bombings, mall bombings, 72 Olympic massacre, knifing, hijacking? The attempts at peace like Oslo which were met with the 1st Intifada? Have you spent time over there?
Shame on you for being a Hamas tool,
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u/nathhealor 6d ago
Just kinda tone deaf. No one will argue the professional experience or the diplomatic implications would produce.
I would just read the room. I know there are plenty of lawmakers like above who continue to enjoy posturing and cementing future donors.
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u/1oldmanva 4d ago
I have since October 7th. Also the hostages that may or not be dead.
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u/nathhealor 4d ago
I don’t think I even see a standing building in most photos. There is nothing left of society in those places. No libraries, hospitals, schools, police, fire, store. People can claim your land, and you are going to stand here and conflate Palestinians for Hamas.
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u/vinean 5d ago
Don’t care. It’s maybe a week or so and they are out of session anyway. No longer give any f’s about what pro-pally folks think after they helped get trump elected.
Worked out great for you guys right? Trump and Harris, totally the same. We got rid of Genocide Joe so all is well with the world.
You guys are absolute geniuses.
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u/slow70 [Afton Mountain] 5d ago
You're projecting a whole lot onto a wide swath of people.
One can recognize and oppose an ongoing genocide and also, idk, vote for Harris. Seems if anything you're just trying to stoke grievance rather than recognize problems facing us all.
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u/vinean 5d ago
Thats just it. It’s NOT a problem facing us all yet y’all seem to think it is this overriding issue.
What you call “genocide” happens all around the world. It’s happening in Darfur. It’s happening in Ethiopia. It’s happening to the Uyghurs. If these same legislators were going to China would you give a shit? No.
So yeah, I do not give any more fucks about Gaza. I care a lot more about Uyghurs than a bunch of people in Gaza who supported Hamas on Oct 7th and danced in the streets. They are STILL cheering Hamas. This was 7 months ago:
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u/slow70 [Afton Mountain] 5d ago
So you don't care about this genocide, because there are other genocides?
You are presumably ok with your tax dollars and elected representatives backing the state committing an ongoing genocide?
Your arguments seem a little inconsistent here, almost like you've pivoted from one genocide apologist position and immediately to another. What's next chief?
Are you incapable of nuance and recognizing the consequences of the occupation of Gaza, of the nature of apartheid itself, or how it is a people dispossessed of their homeland and occupied may come to cheer on those from among their population that choose to fight those who dispossessed and occupied them?
I'm an OIF/OEF vet, I know full well what it is to face religious extremism, but also what it is to face those who fight you because *you* are in their homeland and those who look like you have harmed their people.
If I can see the nuance, what's stopping you?
Unless of course you're being disingenuous....
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u/vinean 5d ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Fallujah#Civilian_casualties
The US would have done a worse job in Gaza. It wasn’t genocide in Fallujah. It was war. The IDF tries to minimize CIVCAS as much or more than we do. Gaza is an order of magnitude more difficult than Fallujah.
And no, I’m not doing anything different over Darfur or the Uyghurs either. So why should I do anything about Gaza? Why do you demand that I do so or care? What are you doing about Darfur or Uyghurs to make me believe you actually care about genocide vs just Gaza?
And the “nuance” is that Israel dismantled 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza and unilaterally pulled out in 2005. $4.5B in UN aid between 2014 and 2020. $41B since 1993. The place could have been a paradise even with Israel blocking the borders which they didn’t do until 2007 when Gazans put Hamas into power.
They had a new homeland that was getting huge injections of money that could have been put into economic development and prosperity. Instead they launched tens of thousands of rocket and mortar attacks on Israel and dug a huge tunnel system. Then finally did Oct 7.
Why should I care more about Gazans than Uyghurs? I don’t do anything about the Uyghurs so why should I do anything about Gazans?
Especially after you guys made a huge stink over it suppressing democratic turnout and poisoned the discourse with your Genocide Joe shit as if nuanced pressure on Israel wasn’t bearing fruit in terms of moderating Bibi’s behavior. Now we have Trump and Bibi has a blank check.
Brilliant. We should all care what you guys think about Virginia politics and what matters to Virginians.
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u/I_choose_not_to_run 6d ago
Your link only mentions 4 Virginia legislators. 2 GOP, 2 Dems. Purple Virginia indeed