Protests highlight Maryland’s ties to Israeli tech and defense systems

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. 

Israeli companies establishing work in Maryland

Maryland has clear ties with Israeli defense systems, including the Iron Dome, which has received significant investment from the US federal government. The defense system, deployed in 2011 and designed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, is used by Israel to intercept short-range missiles.

Between 2011 and 2022, the US provided $2.6 billion for the production and maintenance of the Iron Dome. This spring, as part of a larger aid package, Congress signed off on $4 billion for the Iron Dome and other systems in Israel. Since Oct. 7, people across the US have held protests against defense companies involved in their manufacture. 

Rafael USA, the company’s US branch based in Montgomery County, is working with Raytheon (which relocated its headquarters to Arlington, Virginia, in 2022) to produce the Iron Dome in the US. The Marine Corps is also involved in “evaluating the system,” per its website. 

That partnership and project were announced in 2020, to eventually fully produce the Iron Dome in the US. In February, the joint venture dubbed R2S broke ground at a manufacturing facility in East Camden, Arkansas, that intends to produce missiles for the Iron Dome Weapon System. 

While the US does not have its own Iron Dome system, it has deployed a system with a similar purpose, and Mike Walz, Donald Trump’s pick for national security advisor, has echoed the president-elect’s alleged interest in building one. He recently cited the mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey as a reason to do so. 

Defense company Elta North America, a branch of Israeli firm Elta headquartered in Annapolis Junction, was producing radar used in the Iron Dome as recently as November 2023, one month after the Oct. 7 attack. The work is part of a $30 million contract funded by the Department of Defense’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency. Rafael USA  and Elta North America did not respond to requests for comment. 

Although the MIDC has also taken down its public list of member organizations and companies, it boasted about both of these firms’ work in a post on its website in February. 

“The … systems produced will leverage a US-based supply chain and deliver systems directly to Israel in support of the on-going conflict,” the post read. 

Protesters aim to raise awareness

St. Tearer and other organizers with Al-Aqsa Swim Club have not been directly in contact with the MIDC, and they said that isn’t their ultimate goal. Rather, they want Maryland residents to be more knowledgeable about the state’s ties to Israel. 

“I don't know that there's a way to sort of bridge this gap for some understanding or compromise or anything like that,” St. Tearer said. “I think that we just try to work towards our separate goals and hope for the best outcome.”

St. Tearer grew up in a family with ties to the military, and saw how the destruction of war and the trauma that comes with it become normalized, they said. That’s been especially clear to them in Maryland, with its proximity to the federal government and military infrastructure.

“I'm not a proud Marylander at all,” they said.

But St. Tearer found a passion in educating and organizing through Al-Aqsa Swim Club, as well as producing Instagram graphics and an in-depth resource guide about the MIDC’s work. They’ve wanted to leave the region, but feel drawn to stay because of this work. 

“I feel like I'm here until my work is done, at least, and I want to see this through, or at least see the start of something big to shake things up,” St. Tearer said. “I just can't imagine letting this go on and not doing anything about it.”