By Independent News Roundup
On Monday, it was reported that the Trump administration would deny FEMA funds to any city or state that boycotts Israel. Later that day, the Department of Homeland Security issued a denial — but the denial was an outright lie.
The policy is spelled out clearly in this official DHS document, page 6, Section C, XVII, 1d:
“Recipients must comply with all applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws material to the government’s payment decisions... Discriminatory prohibited boycott means refusing to deal, cutting 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.”
That is the federal government openly declaring that FEMA relief can be denied if a U.S. city or state exercises its right to boycott Israel.
You can boycott the United States, the U.K., Saudi Arabia, France, or God himself — but if you boycott Israel, your community may lose access to disaster aid that your own tax dollars funded.
Maybe they walked it back because there was such outrage but pretending it was never there is insulting.
To have put it there in the first place was clearly illegal. It wasn’t legal when the Biden administration denied FEMA assistance to North Carolina homeowners with Trump signs on their lawns. It wasn’t legal when Trump threatened to withhold FEMA aid from California over a political feud with Governor Newsom. And it’s not legal now.
Federal aid is not a political loyalty test. The First Amendment and the Stafford Act both forbid withholding emergency funds based on viewpoint, political association, or ideological expression.
This policy would never hold up in court — if anyone would take it to court.
But what politician in either party is willing to challenge it?
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