FEMA Threatens To Cut Funding to Cities and States That Boycott Israeli Companies

The Trump administration says it will soon begin denying natural disaster preparedness funding to cities and states that choose to boycott Israeli companies.The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s new anti-discrimination measures state, “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.”States will have to certify they are not cutting off commercial relations with companies tied to Israel if they want to continue to be eligible for the disaster funding. At least $1.9 billion in grants for search and rescue equipment, emergency manager salaries, and backup power systems is reportedly tied to the new policy.The policy goal is to block the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement that pro-Palestinian activists have championed as an economic pressure strategy against Israel. The movement gained traction on college campuses in the months after the October 7 attacks and Israel’s invasion of Gaza.In April, the Department of Homeland Security said that boycotting Israel is prohibited and doing so can disqualify entities from receiving any of its grants. FEMA is an agency under Homeland Security.“DHS will enforce all anti-discrimination laws and policies, including as it relates to the BDS movement, which is expressly grounded in antisemitism,” a representative for the secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, said in a statement to Reuters.Homeland Security grants worth up to $553.5 million to prevent terrorism in densely populated areas are among those affected by the new rule. New York is set to receive the largest grant, totaling $92.2 million.The Trump administration has taken aim at instances of what it calls antisemitism in several arenas, especially higher education, since the president took office in January. President Trump established an antisemitism task force that has investigated harassment of Jewish students at Ivy League schools. Brown, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania have already reached settlements with the administration in order to avoid losing access to federal grants.The new rules will have little impact on most of the country. As of September 2023, 38 states already had laws on their books blocking the Israeli boycotts, Palestine Legal reported. Only a few cities have adopted policies to boycott Israeli companies, among them Richmond, California, and Hamtramck, Michigan.

FEMA Threatens To Cut Funding to Cities and States That Boycott Israeli Companies

FEMA Threatens To Cut Funding to Cities and States That Boycott Israeli Companies

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