Above photo: An Iron Dome radar apparatus. ELTA North America.
Organizers have taken on the Maryland/Israel Development Center.
It’s a public-private organization dedicated to advancing commerce between the illegal occupation and the state.
More than a year after the Oct. 7 attacks that spurred Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, some Maryland residents have continued protesting Israel’s conduct in the conflict.
Like others around the world demonstrating in solidarity against Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories and the tens of thousands killed, these protestors have illuminated the local dimensions of this international issue. Much of their attention has fallen on an organization using public and private resources to facilitate economic exchange with Israel — including with companies developing tech for its military actions.
A local group called Al-Aqsa Swim Club has held demonstrations and posted information about the state’s economic connections to Israel throughout 2024. Work particularly ramped up in tandem with the first anniversary of Oct. 7, with demonstrators showing up to politicians’ houses calling for a ceasefire, posting educational graphics on Instagram and creating an in-depth resource guide.
“We can’t just all constantly be in a state of shock at any given moment,” said Hel St. Tearer, a member of Al-Aqsa Swim Club. “So we have to grab the reins and start to organize.”
The group has taken specific aim at the Maryland/Israel Development Center (MIDC), a public-private partnership working to bring Israeli business to Maryland, and the state’s businesses to Israel.
Organizers have demonstrated outside MIDC offices at the Baltimore World Trade Center and at MIDC members’ houses. Their work illuminates at least part of the scope of how Maryland and Israel — two places where the military and private sector frequently overlap — actually interact with one another.
Millions funneled through bilateral exchange
Maryland is home to more than 40 companies headquartered in Israel, and the state exported $53 million in products and services there in 2023, per a statement from Kevin Anderson, secretary of the state’s Department of Commerce.
Israeli defense companies have established US headquarters in Maryland in the last decade, including some behind the US-backed Iron Dome system. That culminated in millions of funds in government contracts in the last year alone, plus the billions in aid sent to Israel since the war began.
St. Tearer of Al-Aqsa Swim Club found the amount of money flowing particularly notable. MIDC receives taxpayer dollars — $275,000 annually, per Anderson, who did not provide a comment about the protests themselves.
“Our mission is to highlight them [the MIDC], to let people know, ‘Hey, FYI this is where all this money is coming from in Maryland,’” St. Tearer said.
What is the Maryland/Israel Development Center?
Founded in 1992, the group is led by the Maryland Department of Commerce, the Ministry of Economy and Industry of Israel, and the nonprofit The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore. The organization is sponsored by the state-backed venture firm TEDCO, the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation, LifeBridge Health and others, per the MIDC homepage.
Over the years, the MIDC has developed funding opportunities and programming for Maryland and Israeli businesses. For example, in February 2024 it announced a $1 million grant program specifically for companies in Ashkelon, Israel, which is near the Gaza strip and saw deadly violence during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack.
The grant program was organized by The Associated and the Jewish Agency for Israel, per the news release.
“Businesses are struggling as tourists are no longer in town and residents have been relocated from their homes,” the statement read. “A response in past wars has been the establishment of a small business loan initiative to help these businesses weather this difficult period.”
The workforce development organization BCR Cyber, which received millions of dollars in state funding to expand cybersecurity training in community colleges, is also a part of the MIDC’s network of member organizations. The company started after cofounder Bruce Spector accompanied then-Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on a 2016 trade mission to Israel, where he learned about Israel Defense Force-inspired modules for cybersecurity training. Other members include Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures and M&T Bank.
David Speer, MIDC’s executive director, provided a statement about the organization but did not comment on the protests directly.
“The Maryland/Israel Development Center, established over 32 years ago, has been a driving force for economic development,” Speer wrote to Technical.ly. “Over the decades, it has generated jobs, fueled economic growth in Maryland and opened doors for local businesses to expand globally.”
Anderson sits on the board of MIDC, and the Department of Commerce has had an active relationship with the organization since its founding, per the statement from Anderson. The MIDC is also Maryland’s trade representative in Israel and identifies opportunities for foreign direct investment.
MIDC recently took its board member list off its website, but a version archived by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine in October 2024 listed Anderson, M&T Bank Vice President Mark Davis, the Israeli Embassy’s trade minister Natalie Gutman-Chen and University of Maryland, Baltimore Vice President James Hughes as 2024-2025 board members.