Texas Gov. Greg Abbott claims to be all about “America First,” so why is he threatening to punish a city in his state for insufficient loyalty to Israel?
The city council of San Marcos has set up a vote for next week on a largely symbolic resolution that calls for “an Immediate, Permanent, and Sustained Ceasefire in Occupied Palestine, Arms Embargo on the State of Israel, Recognition of Palestinian Sovereignty and Protection of Constitutional Rights.”
The proposed resolution reads in part:
We follow the lead of the World Health Organization, United Nations, Save the Children, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, His Holiness Pope Francis, more than 150 countries, and countless other organizations in the United States and around the world in calling for a ceasefire, because what happens internationally impacts our constituents locally. We believe in the shared humanity of all people, reiterate that all people are entitled to live life in safety and free from violence, and affirm these as common values held by San Marcos residents and leaders.
The resolution specifically highlights that Palestinians of Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths are facing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and says that the council “condemns anti-Palestinian, Islamophobic, antisemitic, and all xenophobic rhetoric and attacks.” Nonetheless, in a threatening letter to San Marcos’ mayor, Abbott decried the resolution for being “antisemitic.”
In the letter, Abbott wrote that “anti-Israel policies are anti-Texas policies” and said the proposed resolution “seems calculated to violate” a state law on boycotting Israel. The resolution notes that San Marcos residents’ tax dollars funded more than $4 million of Israel’s weapons purchases in 2024 and says that San Marcos “stands to benefit from a reallocation of local funds towards essential domestic priorities such as transportation, education, housing, healthcare, environmental protection, and public goods and services, which currently face neglect due to state and federal appropriations to Israel’s military.”
According to Abbott, this puts the city’s state grants at risk. He concluded by saying: Whenever San Marcos enters into grant agreements with my office, it is required to certify that it will comply with all state laws, including laws prohibiting government support for boycotts of Israel. My office is already reviewing active grants with San Marcos to determine whether the City has breached terms by falsely certifying compliance with Texas law. If the City Council adopts this Resolution, the Office of the Governor will not enter into any future grant agreements with the City and will act swiftly to terminate active grants for non-compliance. I will further direct all other state agencies to review agreements with the City for possible breach.
The hypocrisy at play is hard to ignore. Abbott has made a fairly similar argument to the one made in the proposed resolution, in which he says federal aid to Ukraine would be money better spent on Americans. For the record, most of the funding authorized for Ukraine has been spent making purchases from the U.S. defense industry, but the contradiction is clear: Abbott seems perfectly fine with the argument that American tax dollars are better off staying at home — unless anti-Israel sentiment is involved. With a recent Pew Research survey showing that 53% of Americans carry an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 42% in March 2022, it seems like Abbott is intent on quashing broadening dissent over all else.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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