The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned a new Trump administration directive that denies disaster relief to American cities and states that boycott only Israel and Israeli companies complicit in war crimes as “un-American and unconstitutional.”
CAIR called the policy the latest “Israel First” attack on free speech and human rights that puts American lives at risk during future disasters to shield a foreign regime committing genocide and apartheid.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), states must now comply with new “terms and conditions” requiring that they not sever “commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies” in order to receive disaster aid.
In a statement, CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw said:
“The Trump administration’s demand that American cities and states threatened by natural disasters must not boycott Israeli companies involved in war crimes in order to receive federal support is patently unconstitutional and un-American.
“It’s also ludicrous: under the Trump administration’s new rule, American states and cities can boycott any country in the world over its human rights abuses – even America itself – but not Israel. This is not an America First policy. This is an Israel First policy and it must not stand.”
“This outrageous policy once again proves that the Trump administration has been taken over by Israel First extremists willing to endanger American lives, suppress constitutional freedoms, and enable genocide to appease a foreign government led by an indicted war criminal. Conditioning lifesaving disaster relief on political allegiance to a war criminal regime committing genocide is not just immoral—it’s authoritarian.
“The right to boycott is a core First Amendment freedom. Denying disaster aid to states and cities that stand for human rights could cost lives after hurricanes, floods, and wildfires. This is state-sanctioned cruelty that erodes democracy at home while propping up genocide and apartheid abroad.”
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com