Overview

• Grant notices had tied $1.9 billion in disaster preparedness funding and $553.5 million in counterterrorism grants to a pledge not to sever contracts with Israeli companies.
• Governors from both parties, national advocacy groups and leading conservative voices decried the policy’s use of federal aid to advance a foreign policy agenda.
• On August 5, DHS removed the Israel boycott clause from its funding notices and stated that no current FEMA grants include such a requirement.
• DHS emphasized that it will continue enforcing anti-discrimination rules, including those addressing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which it deems antisemitic.
• Analysts say the requirement was largely symbolic since 34 states already maintain anti-BDS laws, but the episode highlighted federal-state tensions over conditional aid.