Maryland is Complicit in Genocide!
Maryland's political and economic institutions are deeply entangled with Israel's ongoing genocide, apartheid system, and war crimes against the Palestinian people. Maryland elected officials preside over pension funds being invested in Israeli bonds. The Port of Baltimore ships weapons used to bomb hospitals, schools, and refugee camps. Our universities collaborate with Israeli institutions complicit in occupation and apartheid. State executive orders suppress the constitutional right to boycott companies supporting these crimes. And all of this happens with bipartisan support from Maryland's political establishment, who prioritize their political alliances over international law, human rights, and the demands of Maryland residents.
This isn't just hypocrisy—it's active complicity. While Maryland politicians claim to stand for human rights and democracy, they quietly ensure that Maryland's resources, institutions, and legal framework continue supporting one of the most documented genocides in modern history. The Maryland Israel Development Center (MIDC)—a 30+ year partnership between the Maryland Department of Commerce, Israel's Ministry of Economy, and the Embassy of Israel—uses state resources to strengthen economic and political ties with Israel. Meanwhile, Maryland students, workers, and residents who speak out against these crimes face censorship, legal threats, and institutional retaliation.
Grassroots justice means rejecting Maryland's complicity with genocide. It means demanding that our state government align with international law, not the agendas of weapons manufacturers and political lobbies. It means ensuring Maryland's institutions serve human rights and dignity—not profits built on mass killing and ethnic cleansing.
So What Do We Do Now?
The Green Party is committed to ending Maryland's complicity with genocide, apartheid, and war crimes by demanding immediate divestment from weapons manufacturers and Israel Bonds, ending all state programs and partnerships that support Israeli apartheid, protecting free speech and the right to boycott, and ensuring Maryland stands on the side of international law and human rights.
Together, we can break Maryland's ties to genocide, restore accountability to our institutions, and ensure Maryland's government reflects the values of justice and human dignity.
Join us in building a Maryland that stands against genocide!
The National Green Party's Commitment to Palestinian Rights and International Law
Since its founding, the Green Party of the United States has consistently stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against Israeli apartheid, occupation, and war crimes. The Green Party's official platform calls for the creation of one secular, democratic state for Palestinians and Israelis between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan, with full recognition of the Palestinian right of return. The national Green Party has called for an immediate suspension of all U.S. military and foreign aid to Israel until it fully complies with international law.
The U.S. Green Party has championed the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, explicitly supporting "boycott and divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era" and calling for the U.S. government to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. Following the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry conclusion that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, the Green Party has explicitly recognized Israeli operations as genocide and called for referral of both U.S. and Israeli government officials to the International Criminal Court for consideration of war crimes and crimes against humanity charges.
Across the country, Green candidates and activists have challenged bipartisan complicity with Israeli apartheid while both Democrats and Republicans enable it. Whether through supporting divestment campaigns, defending student activists facing retaliation, or running candidates who refuse money from pro-Israel lobbies, the Green Party has demonstrated that principled opposition to genocide is possible in American politics.
Maryland Greens Stand Against Genocide and for Palestinian Rights
In Maryland, Green Party members have long been a part of organizing against the state's complicity with Israeli genocide and apartheid. Between 2014 and 2017, Maryland Greens participated in a coalition focused on defeating anti-BDS legislation three times. This organizing successfully defeated Senate Bill 739 and House Bill 949 in 2017—legislation that would have blacklisted businesses and individuals exercising their First Amendment right to boycott Israeli entities.
While Maryland Democrats and Republicans maintain their bipartisan support for Israeli war crimes, Maryland Greens have refused to be silent. We have consistently amplified Palestinian voices, defended students and workers facing retaliation for speaking out, and worked to build an electoral component of the movement demanding that Maryland's institutions align with international law and human rights rather than profits from genocide.
Our commitment remains unshakeable: Maryland will not be complicit in genocide. We will organize until Maryland divests, ends its partnerships with apartheid governments, and stands clearly on the side of justice and Palestinian liberation.
Our Plan to End Maryland's Complicity with Genocide
Our plan to end Maryland's complicity with genocide in Palestine is clear and evolving. We believe in continuous dialogue, constantly engaging communities across the state—especially Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and Jewish communities organizing for justice—to deepen our understanding and strengthen our strategy. Every conversation we have with student organizers, workers, faith leaders, and community activists helps shape and expand our vision, ensuring that our policies reflect the demands of those directly impacted and those leading the movement for Palestinian liberation.
Ultimately, our goal is to make Maryland the first state in the nation to comprehensively end its institutional, economic, and political complicity with Israeli genocide and apartheid. We envision a Maryland where pension funds are not invested in weapons manufacturers or Israel Bonds, where ports do not ship the tools of mass killing, where universities refuse partnerships with institutions complicit in occupation, and where residents are free to boycott, protest, and organize for justice without fear of retaliation. Maryland has precedent for this kind of moral leadership: in 1984, we became one of the first states to divest $1 billion from apartheid South Africa, helping isolate that regime until it fell a decade later. Just as Maryland recognized that profiting from South African apartheid was unconscionable, we must now recognize the same about Israeli apartheid and genocide. With bold divestment, protection of constitutional rights, and accountability for complicity, we can create a Maryland that stands clearly on the side of international law and human rights.
We will continue refining the details with your input. This is the beginning of a vital discussion, one we hope you'll join as we work together to end Maryland's complicity and demand justice for the Palestinian people.
This policy is a work in progress and is consistently evolving That’s why we’re asking for your ideas. Join us in shaping a bold, community-driven path forward. Share your ideas at ideas@gogreen2026.com.
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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.
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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 programdirectly 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.
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The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System (MSRPS) holds $73.7 million in Israel Bonds (as of July 30, 2025)—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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
