Trump Issues Wild Threat to States That Boycott Israel
Donald Trump continues to kiss up to Israel—and Americans will pay the price.

The Trump administration will no longer distribute disaster relief funds to states—unless their cities pledge not to boycott Israeli companies.
The revision targets the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which aims to curb Israel’s violence in Gaza by peeling financial support away from the nation and its businesses.
Trump’s condition will affect $1.9 billion that is supposed to be distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and that would apply to grants for search-and-rescue equipment, emergency manager salaries, backup power systems, and other emergency-related equipment, according to nearly a dozen grant notices reviewed by Reuters. More than a quarter of the funds—approximately $553.5 million—are earmarked for terrorism prevention in high-risk areas such as New York, which stands to receive the largest chunk at $92.2 million.
In order to access the funds, states or cities must certify that they would not avoid or end “commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies,” the grant notices state.
But the FEMA notice is just the latest in a long line of warnings from the Trump administration regarding its alliance with Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Department of Homeland Security announced in April that boycotting Israel was forbidden for any state or city intending to receive federal funding, and the White House has rescinded billions of dollars from universities around the country for failing to meet Trump’s metric of support for America’s genocidal Middle Eastern ally.
Specifically targeting New York is another way to challenge New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s chances of running the country’s most populous city. Mamdani’s support for the divestment movement has fueled the ire of the president, who has issued several sharp threats to Mamdani since the 33-year-old Democratic Socialist swept the primary. Those include telling the Queens lawmaker that he “better behave” or face “big problems.” Trump has also baselessly accused Mamdani of being an illegal immigrant.