Texas city devastated by Hurricane Harvey requires that relief applicants pledge not to boycott Israel

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

published 20 October 2017

Dickinson, Texas, a suburb about 30 miles away from Houston, is requiring that applicants for relief funds in the wake of Hurricane Harvey pledge not to boycott Israel, The Washington Post reports. The application document reads: "By executing this agreement below, the applicant verifies that the applicant: (1) does not boycott Israel; and (2) will not boycott Israel during the term of this agreement."

Hurricane Harvey may have hit Dickinson harder than any other Texas city, local press and law enforcement suggest, with severe flooding and winds resulting in upwards of 7,000 homes damaged. It was in Dickinson that the viral photo of elderly patients in a nursing home trapped in waist-high water was taken.

The American Civil Liberties Union has called the requirement a violation of the First Amendment, and ACLU of Texas Legal Director Andre Segura points out that "the government cannot condition hurricane relief or any other public benefit on a commitment to refrain from protected political expression." Dickinson city attorney David W. Olson said that he was only following the statewide Anti-BDS law signed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) earlier this year, which "prohibits all state agencies from contracting with, and certain public funds from investing in, companies that boycott Israel." There is no clarification of the law's application to individuals.