Committee hears rights‑and‑accountability debate on Maryland bill targeting nonprofits tied to illegal West Bank settlements

A reintroduced bill, House Bill 13‑94, drew a crowded and often emotional hearing as the House Judiciary Committee considered a measure that would prohibit Maryland nonprofit organizations from knowingly engaging in or supporting certain activity tied to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Sponsor Delegate Gabriel Acevedo said the bill — described in testimony as the "Not On Our Dime" Act — would bar state nonprofit tax benefits for organizations that knowingly fund, facilitate or promote settlement expansion or auctioning of land taken from Palestinians and would allow Maryland’s attorney general and harmed individuals to seek injunctive relief and damages.

Nut graf: Supporters framed the bill as a human‑rights accountability measure intended to prevent Maryland nonprofits from funding conduct they and international bodies have described as contravening international humanitarian law. Opponents, including several Jewish communal leaders and advocates, said the measure was targeted at Jewish organizations and risked harming legitimate humanitarian or medical programs and interfaith cooperation.

Proponents included CAIR Maryland, student leaders from Maryland historically Black colleges and universities and local faith‑based gun‑violence prevention leaders who tied the broader theme of human rights and accountability to the state’s charitable sector. Yasmin Bridal, a Morgan State University student who testified about the Morgan State shooting earlier in the hearing, told lawmakers: "We urge you all to favor our lives more than a dollar bill and or and, decide favorably on this bill." Advocates cited reporting of a 2024 private auction event in Baltimore that they said involved land tied to illegal settlements.

Opponents included leaders and representatives of large Jewish philanthropic organizations in Maryland, who warned the legislation would single out Israel, curtail humanitarian services and sow division. Bruce Beriano, a Jewish community leader, testified the bill was ‘‘despicable’’ and said the legislation would unfairly impact named local organizations. Other opponents argued the bill would be difficult to administer and could chill charitable engagement abroad.

Several lawmakers asked whether the bill imposed an appropriate legal standard for knowing conduct and whether it might unintentionally block medical, humanitarian or education services delivered to vulnerable people in contested territories. Delegate Acevedo and supporters said the measure targeted financial support for illegal settlement construction and land sales and emphasized the bill would be limited to activity the sponsor said violates international law as interpreted by the International Court of Justice and human‑rights bodies.

Ending: The committee heard multiple short in‑person statements from grassroots activists and community leaders on both sides. Lawmakers asked technical and constitutional questions and indicated they would continue to weigh the bill’s civil‑enforcement mechanisms against concerns about free expression, charitable practice and community relations.