Last week, the House of Representatives voted 237-169 to deny federal funding and block federal student aid for colleges that boycott Israel.
The Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act would make institutions that engage in a “nonexpressive commercial boycott” of Israel ineligible for certain federal student aid. The bill passed with the support of 33 Democrats, including Representatives Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX). Two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Warren Davidson (R-OH), voted against it.
Despite the bill’s passage, opposition to the United States’ aid to Israel has continued to grow within the Democratic Party this Congress. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) especially pushed back on the bill, arguing that the U.S. should not reward or enable the Israeli government’s actions.
“This bill is a bad idea,” Rep. Castro said. “It tramples on the rights of Americans to protect a foreign government from the consequences of its own actions.”
Following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and the subsequent conflict in Gaza, student and faculty groups at some universities increased calls for administrators to boycott and divest any funding from Israel-affiliated groups or organizations. Although most efforts were largely unsuccessful, protests erupted at universities across the country.
Rep. Castro noted that the West Bank is experiencing “the worst year of settler violence ever reported.”
“The Israeli settlers have committed violence, terrorism and many other things against Palestinians with the goal of driving them out of the lands they’ve lived in for generations,” he said. “It is an ethnic cleansing.”
Rep. Castro was one of the 103 Democrats who voted in July to pause U.S. military funding for Israel. Although the party has long supported the alliance between the two countries, the war in Gaza has caused a recent shift in attitudes toward U.S. support for Israel.
“They’ve assaulted and killed Palestinian Americans and laid siege to their homes,” Rep. Castro said. “The Israeli government has turned a blind eye to this violence, and in many cases has actively supported it, protecting the criminals and not the victims.”
The bill will now head to the Senate for a final vote, but Rep. Castro said he believes Congress’ priorities are misplaced.
“The priority of the House today is a bill that threatens to take away federal student aid from American citizens to protect this activity and these settlements,” he said.
