Trump conditions $1.9B in disaster funds on rejection of Israel boycotts

WASHINGTON

The Trump administration has threatened to withhold at least $1.9 billion in disaster preparedness funding to states and local governments that support boycotts of Israel or Israeli firms.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said in 11 grant notices published Friday that applicants must comply with its internal terms and conditions, which include clauses mandating that entities seeking funding not support efforts to blacklist Israel.

Applicants must not support severing "commercial relations, or otherwise limiting commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies or with companies doing business in or with Israel or authorized by, licensed by, or organized under the laws of Israel to do business," according to the 2025 fiscal year terms and conditions posted by the agency in April.

The political requirement is unusual, particularly for funding that covers a wide range of critical programs for state and local governments, including cybersecurity, emergency food and shelter, port security to thwart potential terrorist attacks, and search-and-rescue equipment.

It is unclear how much of an impact it will have. Already, over half of all US states — 38 — have laws on the books, or executive orders in place, punishing individuals and businesses who participate in the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.

The first to adopt such a measure was Tennessee in 2015, followed that year by South Carolina and Illinois. Alaska is the last state to have taken action against BDS when Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued an executive order in 2024 directing state departments to halt all business with entities supporting BDS.

The laws and executive actions have come under intense scrutiny over whether they are in compliance with the US Constitution.

The BDS movement, launched by Palestinian civil society in 2005, draws on a legacy of boycotts that helped topple apartheid in South Africa, linking the fight for Palestinian liberation to broader struggles against injustice.

While boycotts have largely been upheld under the First Amendment's free speech protections, the Supreme Court in 2023 declined to take up a case brought by an Arkansas newspaper after the state sought to force it to sign a declaration saying it would not support boycotts of Israel.

The top court's decision left in place a lower court ruling upholding the mandate, though the court did not rule on the constitutionality of the law.

"The Supreme Court missed an important opportunity to reaffirm that the First Amendment protects the right to boycott,” Brian Hauss, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the newspaper in court, said in a statement shortly after the top court's decision.

“From the Boston Tea Party to the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the boycott of apartheid South Africa, Americans have proudly exercised that right to make their voices heard. But if states can suppress boycotts of Israel, then they can suppress boycotts of the National Rifle Association or Planned Parenthood," he added.

Demands to boycott Israel have grown increasingly vocal amid its ongoing war against the besieged Gaza Strip, which has killed over 60,000 Palestinians, and led to mass starvation and widespread destruction across the coastal enclave.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.