Keith Self
R · U.S. House, TX-3 · Tier 1
Tier 1, “Firmly pro-Israel”
House Foreign Affairs Europe subcommittee chair who wrote the Gaza Strip Travel Restriction Act (May 2024), which would write Trump's 2017 travel ban into law and apply it to everyone residing in Gaza, and the Return to PEACE Act (Sep 2025), codifying visa bans on Palestinian Authority and PLO officials, saying that recognizing “a so-called Palestinian state … is not just delusional” and calling it a “fictitious state.” In October 2024 he led letters demanding Biden unlock all approved aid to Israel and rescind the Blinken–Austin warning that tied military aid to letting humanitarian aid into Gaza — “I demand the Biden administration cease dictating the rules of engagement and threatening to remove aid for Israel” — and in September 2024 he urged Biden to “support our ally without conditions or undue pressure.” He was an original cosponsor of both ICC sanctions bills, cosponsored the Stand with Israel Act, and voted for every tracked Israel measure: the Israel-only supplementals (Nov 2023, Feb 2024), the April 2024 package, the bill to force the paused bomb shipment (May 2024), ICC sanctions (Jun 2024 and Jan 2025), the amendment barring the State Department from citing Gaza Health Ministry casualty figures (Jun 2024) and the September 2026 college anti-boycott bill, and against the 2025 Greene and 2026 Massie cuts. Asked in iVoterGuide’s 2026 general-election questionnaire whether the U.S. relationship with Israel is important, Self answered: “Our relationship with Israel is important politically, culturally, biblically, and militarily. Israel is the only democratic ally in the Middle East. Our Christian culture was founded on ties through our common biblical heritage. Israel is our strong military ally against the surge of radical Islam in the region.” In January 2024 he signed the Smith–Manning letter, whose signers “thoroughly reject” South Africa’s “charge of genocide” against Israel. On Oct 23, 2026 he wrote on X that CAIR, “which Texas designated as a foreign terrorist organization,” was endorsing Texas Democrats: “This is the Red-Green Alliance, and they are focused on one goal: destroying America.”
A clean 1. He writes legislation aimed at Palestinians — a bill to bar Gaza's residents from entering the United States during the genocide and a bill to lock in visa bans on Palestinian officials — leads letters against any condition on arms, including the 2024 demand that Israel let aid into Gaza, and rejects Palestinian statehood as “delusional.” That is sustained leadership on Israel with no concern for Palestinian civilians in his own words.
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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).