Washington Warns: Sanctioning Israel Equals Risk of Losing Natural Disaster Funding
Rokna Political Desk: The U.S. government has set a condition for receiving funding for natural disaster preparedness; states must guarantee maintaining their commercial relations with Israeli companies and refrain from sanctioning them in order to qualify for FEMA assistance.
While the failure to secure one million dollars in Texas last month resulted in the deaths of approximately 100 Americans, the Trump administration has announced that states and cities that sanction Israeli companies will not receive funding for natural disaster preparedness.
According to Fars News Agency, based on conditions declared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), states must guarantee that they will not sever commercial ties, particularly with Israeli companies, to be eligible for assistance.
Reuters reported on Monday that this condition concerns at least $1.9 billion that states rely on to cover expenses such as search and rescue equipment, emergency manager salaries, and backup power systems. This is the latest example of the Trump administration using ordinary federal funding to advance its political objectives at the state level.
This comes while flooding in Texas last month resulted in the deaths of at least 135 Americans. Experts say this flood could have caused far fewer casualties if a one-million-dollar budget had been allocated to install early warning sirens; however, the lack of funding led to the high number of victims.
The condition concerning Israel is in line with countering the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. This campaign is designed to exert economic pressure on Israel to end the occupation of Palestinian territories.
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