The Howard County Republican Central Committee stands against this week’s statement from County Executive Calvin Ball on the protests at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque. Dr. Ball chose divisiveness over civility by saying that al-Aqsa Mosque located in Jerusalem is in Palestine, delegitimizing Israel’s right to sovereignty over land internationally recognized as Israel’s.
While we support all calls for peace in the Middle East, we do not support our County Executive calling out violence against Palestinians while failing to mention concurrent violence against Israelis. As Republicans, we are committed to ensuring that Howard County remains a County of inclusiveness and tolerance. Accordingly, we call on Calvin Ball to issue a true apology–unlike the weak apology posted on Facebook–to all Howard County citizens, not just for his biased statements but also his misuse of the county’s social media page to promote his personal, anti-Israeli agenda.