Texas Gov. Greg Abbott penned a letter to Jane Hughson, the mayor of San Marcos, on Tuesday, decrying what the Republican said is a “proposed antisemitic resolution” that flouts Texas state law “openly.”
“Israel is a stalwart ally of the United States and a friend to Texas,” the pro-Israel governor wrote. “I have repeatedly made clear that Texas will not tolerate antisemitism. Anti-Israel policies are anti-Texas policies.”
After Oct. 7, Abbott issued an executive order on Jew-hatred in higher education. “I have proudly signed legislation prohibiting government entities from supporting efforts to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel,” he stated. “That remains the law here.”
Abbott’s office “is currently reviewing active grants to determine whether the city has breached terms,” the governor wrote to the San Marcos mayor. “If the city adopts the antisemitic resolution, the office of the governor will immediately terminate all active grants not in compliance with state law.”
The San Marcos City Council considered a resolution on April 15 that calls for transferring “permanent sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories” and an “embargo on the State of Israel,” according to the governor.
“The resolution claims to be rooted in the principle that ‘all people are entitled to live life in safety and free from violence’” and states that it denounces targeting civilians “unequivocally,” Abbott added. “But I have not found any past resolution that ‘unequivocally condemn[s] targeting civilians’ by Hamas or affirms that the Jews murdered on Oct. 7 were ‘entitled to live life in safety and free from violence.’”
“City Council members voted to bring this pro-Hamas resolution to a formal vote at their next meeting on Tuesday, May 6, 2025,” he stated.
An agenda for the city council’s meeting noted a discussion “regarding a possible resolution calling for the immediate and permanent ceasefire in occupied Palestine, an arms embargo on Israel, recognition of Palestinian sovereignty and the protection of constitutional rights for all people under national and international law.”
