Jason Smith
R · U.S. House, MO-8 · Tier 1
Tier 1, “Firmly pro-Israel”
Ways and Means chairman who has turned the committee’s tax jurisdiction on the Palestine-solidarity movement: after October 7 he opened an investigation of tax-exempt groups that names Students for Justice in Palestine and American Muslims for Palestine; in June 2024 he asked the IRS to revoke the exemption of the People Media Project, publisher of The Palestine Chronicle, after one of its Gaza contributors was reported to have held Israeli hostages (“He isn't a reporter. He is a terrorist.”); and in July 2026 he subpoenaed protest-linked nonprofits, opening his column with “masked thugs burning the American flag and waving a Palestinian one.” He held a November 2023 hearing and wrote to universities over campus protests, warning that they were “putting their special tax benefits at risk” and calling the protesters “terrorist-supporting hate groups” (May 2024); he wrote in October 2024 that Israel has every right to do what’s necessary, including “wiping out Palestinian terror groups”, and in October 2023 condemned “Palestinian student groups” for blaming Israel. He voted for every tracked Israel measure — the 2023–24 supplementals, censuring Tlaib, H.Res.894, the Antisemitism Awareness Act, the bill forcing delivery of paused weapons, both ICC-sanctions bills and the September 2026 anti-boycott bill — and against the Greene (2025) and Massie (2026) cuts.
A clean 1. Smith’s leadership is enforcement rather than authored Israel bills: as Ways and Means chairman he personally drove the investigations, IRS demands, university letters and subpoenas aimed at campus Palestine-solidarity groups and allied nonprofits, and says he helped lead the House bill to strip tax exemptions from groups accused of supporting terrorism — the tax-code counterpart of anti-boycott enforcement. His rhetoric casts campus protesters as “terrorist-supporting hate groups”, and no concern for Palestinian civilians surfaced. Counter-case: a 1/2 if only authored Israel legislation counts — none of his sponsored bills is an Israel bill — though the enforcement record is his own.
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elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).