Maryland Break the Bonds Campaign

The AFSCME Local 3399 Executive Board has voted unanimously to endorse the Maryland Break the Bonds campaign led by Jewish Voice for Peace and union members across Maryland because we don’t want our pensions to help fund the Israeli government’s genocide, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid in Gaza and the West Bank. We’re calling on the Maryland General Assembly to pass HB 1455 which would divest more than $65 million in Israeli government bonds from the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System. You can help by signing this petition to the House Appropriations Committee. You also can find more info on the Maryland Break the Bonds website.

More than 420,000 public employees must contribute part of our wages to the state pension system where a Board of Trustees decides how to invest our retirement funds. The board has invested more than $65 million in Israeli sovereign bonds that directly fund the Israeli government, which has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of whom were women and children.

Israel also is ramping up its apartheid campaign against Palestinians, including ethnic cleansing, theft of land, unlawful imprisonment, and torture in Gaza and the West Bank. Nelson Mandela’s grandson recently said the apartheid state in Israel is worse than it was in South Africa in the 1980s. The state of Maryland divested from South Africa then. Why aren’t we divesting from Israel now? Racism and Islamophobia targeting Palestinians shouldn’t be legitimized.

In solidarity,

Brendan Smith

AFSCME Local 3399 President