Kay Granger, Pro-Israel Texas Republican, Dies at 83

Rep. Kay Granger, a Texas Republican described as one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in the U.S. Congress, died this past week at age 83, according to The Jerusalem Post.

AIPAC said on X/Twitter that it was “saddened by the passing of Congresswoman Kay Granger, a trailblazer in public service and a steadfast friend of the US-Israel relationship.” It said Granger “championed life‑saving security assistance to Israel for many years, ensuring that our ally had the resources it needed to defend its people.”

Granger served 14 terms, or 28 years, in Congress during the Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden and both Trump administrations. She was the first woman from the Republican Party to chair the House Committee on Appropriations.

As chair of the House Appropriations State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee from 2011 to 2017, Granger controlled funding for the U.S. State Department and foreign aid,. It said she took the lead in 2016 on an Obama-initiated $38 billion, 10-year military aid package for Israel that included 33 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters built in her Texas district.

Granger was a former teacher and small-business owner who served four years as Fort Worth’s first female mayor before being elected to Congress in 1996. She won an open seat with nearly 58 percent of the vote, ended the district’s century-long Democratic hold, became the first Republican woman to represent a Texas district in the House and was reelected 13 times.

The article said documentation showed she visited Israel at least three times: first as Fort Worth mayor in the early 1990s, again in 1998 with a delegation led by then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich and in 2009 as an Appropriations Committee member. Pomerantz wrote that the 2009 delegation met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior defense and intelligence officials to discuss regional security.