Trump administration reverses pledge to tie FEMA funds to stance on Israel following criticism

The Trump administration has reversed course on Monday after it faced backlash for threatening to withhold at least $1.9 billion (€1.64 billion) in disaster funds from cities and states that support boycotts of Israel and Israeli companies.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appears to have removed an article from its website under its internal terms and conditions which stipulated that states “must not support severing commercial relations, or otherwise limiting commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies or with companies doing business in or with Israel” to qualify for the funding.

States rely on the emergency line of funding to finance search and rescue operations in cases of natural disasters or local emergencies, staff salaries, equipment and resources.

The DHS oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding operations. Spokesperson for the DHS Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement on Monday that “FEMA grants remain governed by existing law and policy and not political litmus tests”.

This marks a shift in the Trump administration’s policy which has tried to penalise local governments, institutions, federal agencies and private companies for not aligning with its views on Israel or antisemitism.

The now seemingly rebuked clause attempted to take aim at the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which is designed to place economic strain on Israel and force them to end their more than 20-month long offensive on Gaza.

The old terms and conditions, which states must follow to be allowed access to funds, followed what the DHS called a “discriminatory prohibited boycott”, but the updated version, quietly published late on Monday no longer uses that language.

“There is NO FEMA requirement tied to Israel in any current NOFO. No states have lost funding, and no new conditions have been imposed,” wrote the Department of Homeland Security in a post on X.

“DHS will enforce all anti-discrimination laws and policies, including as it relates to the BDS movement, which is expressly grounded in antisemitism. Those who engage in racial discrimination should not receive a single dollar of federal funding.”

The decision to quietly remove the clause from the terms and conditions comes after various US media outlets slammed the department for tying access to federal emergency funds to political agendas and ideologies.

It also comes as global pressure and criticism mounts on Israel over its Gaza offensive. The Trump administration has routinely stated that it will continue to fight what it called a wave of left-wing induced antisemitism, stressing that it has no place in the Untied States and will not be tolerated.