Arlington Economic Development (AED) is the lead governmental department responsible for fostering an economically competitive and sustainable community in Arlington County, VA. AED's work focuses on business investment, support for small businesses and entrepreneurs, cultural affairs, and tourism.

The current industries they prioritize include “defense”, “aerospace”, and “cybersecurity.” These industries have a history of harming communities from Arlington to Palestine.

AED’s budget in FY 2026 is almost $10 million, which is funded in part by Arlington taxpayers.

Amazonand Microsoft have provided the Israeli military with computing power and artificial intelligence (AI) tools that Israel publicly admitted it needed to carry out the genocide.

Lockheed Martin, which is the world’s largest military company, Boeing, and RTX, which are both headquartered in Arlington, and RTX have long provided Israel with the fighter jets, attack helicopters, armored vehicles, bombs, missiles, and other weapons and surveillance systems that Israel routinely uses in war crimes against the Palestinian people.

Elbit Systems Ltd is headquartered in Israel and designs, manufactures, and sells munitions, combat vehicles, drones, electronic warfare systems, cybersecurity technologies, and other weapons and surveillance systems.

AED facilitates these companies’ presence in Arlington by providing them with incentives such as grants, office space, venues, and access to key local officials.

Our demands include reprioritizing key targeted industries so that we will be building a new economic model that will create new jobs that aren’t harming others. Our ask is also for an ethics policy that will have Arlington stop giving these companies resources- we shouldn’t be making it easier for these companies to take from our tax dollars.

Workers at these companies themselves are taking action from Microsoft to Google to end complicity in the genocide.

This is whitewashing.

Through its collaboration with VIAB, Arlington Economic Development has used our tax payer money to finance Israeli weapons companies such as Elbit Systems, as well as other weapons companies like Boeing, and Starburst, all of which have offices in Arlington, Virginia. The weapons these companies produce are the exact ones Israel uses to slaughter Palestinian civilians, and also to target vulnerable populations at home by providing ICE with surveillance technology. This is money that could be used to develop Arlington infrastructure and education. Instead, many vital resources are left underfunded, rents continue to increase, and every day Arlingtonians have become involuntary financiers of the devastating genocide of Palestinians abroad. Palestine might be an international issue, but it is local governments that determine budgets and have a lot more power when it comes to these things than you may think. Arlington, Virginia in particular plays a crucial and sinister role. Additionally, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian community here in Arlington, many of whom have family living in Gaza and the West Bank. No one is free until Palestine is free.

1. Sign and share our petition.
2. Follow us on Instagram or Bluesky to keep up to date with future actions.
3. Visit our linktree.
4. If you don’t live in Arlington but live nearby, you can connect your local group too! LocoFalastin, Alexandria for Palestine, Fairfax for Palestine, and DC For Palestine all do great advocacy work targeting complicity in their jurisdictions.

1. Sign our coalition letter.
2. Host a political education event for your members.
3. Follow us on Instagram or Bluesky to keep up to date with future actions.
4. Visit our linktree.

Yes- for 20 years Palestinians have been calling on folks to take action locally through boycott and divestment campaigns modeled after South Africa anti-apartheid. Arlington failed to take action then; let’s not make the same mistake again!

Here are a few of several examples of local jurisdictions mobilizing campaigns to divest from Israel:

1. In September 2024, the city council in Portland ME voted to divest from companies doing business with Israel.
2. In December 2024, Alameda County, CA divested from Caterpillar, a company that sells bulldozers to the Israeli military.
3. In February 2025, Cuyahoga County, OH froze $3 million in Israel bonds.
4. In April 2025, the Iowa City, IA council voted unanimously to divest from all entities complicit in the occupation of Palestine.
5. In August 2025, Medford, MA, just outside of Boston, passed a public ordinance to divest public funds from fossil fuels, weapons and prisons.

This campaign for now is focused on AED, but we know there are many other ways Arlington is complicit in the genocide of Gaza. Many of Arlington's other investments can also be targets. We are focusing on AED for the time being because it is something the county board has direct power over and is now most directly supporting genocide.