An executive order signed by Republican Larry Hogan and extended by Democrat Wes Moore prohibits state agencies from contracting with businesses that boycott Israel, effectively criminalizing constitutionally protected political speech. This executive order, signed by Governor Larry Hogan after grassroots activists successfully defeated three attempts at anti-BDS legislation between 2014 and 2017, was an end-run around the legislative process and the people's opposition. The order prioritizes support for Israeli apartheid over Marylanders' First Amendment rights. On day one we will rescind this unconstitutional executive order and protect the constitutional right to boycott without government retaliation or censorship.

The Maryland Israel Development Center (MIDC) is a "public-private partnership" that has used Maryland taxpayer resources for over 30 years to build economic and political partnerships with Israeli institutions complicit in apartheid, occupation, and war crimes. The MIDC directly involves state agencies including the Maryland Department of Commerce, public universities like the University of Maryland Baltimore and county governments including Baltimore County and Montgomery County. This program directly entangles Maryland's government, universities, and economic development resources with genocide. We will move as quickly as possible to shut down the MIDC, end all state-funded programs that normalize or strengthen ties with Israeli apartheid, and redirect those resources toward building international relationships based on justice, equality, and respect for international law.

The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System (MSRPS) holds $73.7 million in Israel Bonds (as of July 30, 2025). These are loans directly to Israel's treasury that tie Maryland's government to an economy of displacement, dispossession, and death. These bonds represent retirement savings for 420,000 Maryland teachers, state workers, and municipal employees, and they directly finance Israel's genocide in Gaza and apartheid system that has brutally dominated Palestinians since 1948. In 1984, Maryland became one of the first states to divest $1 billion from apartheid South Africa. We will follow that precedent and work to divest all Maryland pension funds from Israel Bonds and any companies complicit in Israeli war crimes, reinvest in Maryland's communities with sustainable and socially responsible investments, and ensure Maryland workers' retirement savings align with international law, not genocide.

The Port of Baltimore has become a logistics hub for shipping weapons used in Israel's genocide against Palestinians. While the federal government controls arms export licensing, Maryland controls its own port operations and state resources. We will direct the Maryland Port Administration to cease active facilitation of weapons shipments to Israel, withdraw state resources and infrastructure support for such shipments, protect dockworkers' rights to refuse handling weapons without retaliation, and use all available regulatory and administrative authority to make Maryland inhospitable for the logistics of genocide. Maryland will not provide the infrastructure or cooperation that enables mass killing.

Maryland's public universities maintain partnerships, research collaborations, and exchange programs with Israeli universities that are directly complicit in developing weapons systems, surveillance technologies used in occupation, and providing ideological justification for apartheid. The University of Maryland Baltimore, facilitated by the MIDC, has expanded research collaborations and educational exchanges with institutions in Haifa, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv. These academic partnerships normalize genocide and violate principles of academic freedom and human rights. We will end all institutional partnerships between Maryland universities and Israeli institutions, terminate Maryland's role in facilitating these collaborations through the MIDC and other state programs, and ensure that Maryland's public universities uphold international law and human rights until Israel ends apartheid and respects Palestinian rights.

Students, faculty, and staff organizing for Palestinian rights on Maryland campuses face censorship, harassment, disciplinary action, and institutional retaliation. Universities have suppressed protests, canceled events, investigated student organizations, and collaborated with law enforcement to intimidate pro-Palestinian activists, all while claiming commitment to free speech and academic freedom. We will defend the constitutional rights of Maryland students and faculty to organize, protest, and advocate for Palestinian liberation without fear of retaliation, ensure universities cannot use disciplinary processes to silence Palestine solidarity activism, and hold universities accountable for violating free speech in service of political agendas supporting genocide.