DHS added Israel provision for funding grants in April

The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed to Just the News that the agency added a contentious provision to its terms and conditions requiring that funding recipients not support boycotts of Israeli companies in April 2025.

A Reuters report on Monday stated that the Trump administration had linked $1.9 billion in disaster aid to the Israel requirement, leading to widespread outcry. 

DHS on Monday stated that the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not include any requirements related to Israel in its notices of funding opportunities (NOFO).

“There is NO FEMA requirement tied to Israel in any current NOFO. No states have lost funding, and no new conditions have been imposed,” DHS posted on X. “FEMA grants remain governed by existing law and policy and not political litmus tests. 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.”

FEMA maintains its own set of terms and conditions for Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) recipients. These apply, however, in addition to the DHS’s own terms and conditions as FEMA is a part of DHS. The DHS statement is accurate in that FEMA’s terms and conditions did not include an Israel provision, though the overarching DHS terms did, meaning that the Israel provision would have theoretically applied to FEMA grants.

At issue was a part of the DHS terms and conditions that included an Israel boycott provision under its anti-discrimination clause. The statement read as follows:

“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.”

The original hyperlink to that document remains live as of press time and may be accessed here. You may also download the PDF directly below.

The current version of the fiscal 2025 standards and conditions does not feature any language referencing Israel and went live Monday evening, following a day of public outcry. 

DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin confirmed to Just the News on Tuesday that the agency removed the provision, asserting that it was removed because it “caused confusion.” She further asserted that the DHS statement was in fact true and that “no one who applied to NOFOs was subject to that terms and conditions.”

The DHS has appeared to confirm that it imposed the boycott stipulation in its own terms and conditions, but that the lower agency under its purview (FEMA) did not directly do so. Moreover, DHS asserts that no FEMA NOFO applicant was subject to such a stipulation and that it removed the provision from DHS conditions to ensure that such did not occur.

Reuters has since reported the change in policy as a “reversal”, and the DHS has confirmed that it removed the language from the terms and conditions. Whether it was the DHS’s original intent to impose the condition on FEMA grants remains unclear, though the agency’s statements have merely stated that they did not do so.

The online public, moreover, was not satisfied with the DHS’s public explanation, and X users slapped the agency’s post with a Community Note.

“Misleading: DHS Terms and Condition[s] only now removed the section stating ‘boycott means refusing to deal, cutting commercial relations, or otherwise limiting commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies”, read the note on the DHS post.

Accompanying the Community Note were links to the original document and the updated document. The original move saw widespread condemnation from figures on the political left and right, which a notable number of mainline conservative figures expressing outrage.

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh stated that "[t]here is just no way to reasonably claim that this qualifies as 'America First.'"

Turning Point USA contributor Savannah Hernandez, for her part, said “So let me get this straight, the government takes OUR taxpayer dollars that are supposed to be used for OUR disasters and is now threatening to withhold it if Americans choose to boycott Israel? Why is Israel even being considered when it comes to disaster aid for Americans?”

"Denying American victims of natural disasters aid if they are insufficiently supportive of Israel. Absolute insanity," wrote podcaster Krystal Ball.

"I’ve never seen someone tank their legacy so fast. This is not America first and anyone advising him on this should be fired," wrote musician Alexandra Lains.

Prominent Israel critics on the right took the revelations as a validation of their assertions that the American government was subordinating U.S. interests to those of Israel.

“The Trump administration is now withholding disaster relief funds from American states that boycott Israel,” Nick Fuentes posted. “So remember to pledge allegiance to Israel before your house is destroyed by a fire or hurricane, it could save your life.”