Since the Hamas attack on Israel, Gov. Ron DeSantis has sought to show his leadership and foreign policy chops in action as war ignites in the Middle East.
With a flurry of activity, the Florida governor has demonstrated he’s solidly behind Israel after the horrific massacres of Oct. 7.
Mr. DeSantis has steadily contrasted his actions to those of President Joe Biden, as well as the positions of his chief rivals for the nomination, former President Donald Trump and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley.
He dispatched flights to evacuate hundreds of Floridians stranded when the war broke out and authorized flights to ship donated supplies.
The governor has called out President Biden on his plan to send $100 million to Gaza and campaign opponent Nikki Haley on her positions over the years on refugee resettlement. He has vociferously opposed any admission of Gaza refugees to the United States.
Mr. DeSantis’s state government has been proactive as well.
Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the state university system, decried reports of anti-Semitism at pro-Palestinian rallies on Florida campuses.
He noted that the “grotesque behavior,” including statements that killing Jewish babies was legitimate and the killing of Jews justified, was criminal if true and that the governor had authorized the full law enforcement power of the state to investigate and prosecute it.
Mr. DeSantis has also made symbolic gestures, including an Oct. 12 prayer for Israel with several evangelical groups coordinated by the Family Policy Alliance.
He ordered flags flown at half-staff for Israel, and the Florida Capitol lit in blue and white each night from Oct. 9 to Oct. 13.
An appearance at the Shul of Bal Harbour in Surfside, with the state leaders and the Israel Consul General, went beyond the symbolic.
Mr. DeSantis called for state legislation to increase sanctions against the regime of Iran, widely suspected of having abetted the savage Hamas attacks.
The sanctions would include broadening the industries on Florida’s scrutinized companies list and prohibiting state and local governments from contracting with them.
They would strengthen Florida’s position on states sponsoring terror.
The measure would require the president and Congress to certify Iran had stopped supporting international terrorism and acquiring weapons of mass destruction and to lift all federal sanctions before any Florida sanctions were lifted.
On President Biden’s plan to send aid to Gaza, Mr. DeSantis released a video on Oct. 18: “Joe Biden just announced $100 million of your taxpayer dollars going to the Gaza Strip. They say it’s humanitarian assistance. We know Hamas is going to commandeer that money, and Hamas is going to use it to advance terrorism.
“I say no U.S. tax dollars to the Gaza Strip. We still have hostages being held by Hamas. There are American hostages being held by Hamas. How are you funding them when they’re holding Americans, as well as others, hostage?
“I challenge every Republican running: step up to the plate. Join me in opposing Biden’s $100 million gift to Hamas.”
Reports emerged over the war’s first weekend that up to 20,000 Americans were stranded as major airlines canceled their flights to and from Israel and were getting no help from the U.S. embassy in Israel.
Mr. DeSantis issued an executive order on Oct. 12, declaring a state of emergency in Florida with all the attendant funding and authority powers, including activating the Florida National Guard.
The state Division of Emergency Management arranged charter flights from Tel Aviv that were free to the passengers.
His executive order decrying the attacks noted the travelers’ inability to get help from the U.S. government and Florida’s sizeable Jewish population, including “large numbers of dual Israeli-American citizens and Floridians with relatives and businesses in Israel.”
He and his wife Casey DeSantis greeted the first group of around 270 Floridians at Tampa International Airport on Oct. 15.
Mr DeSantis extended the state’s efforts to include Americans the federal government had extracted but only as far as Athens, Greece.
A second evacuation flight landed in Tampa on Oct. 18, carrying 47 passengers.
The state is also transporting supplies to Israel.
Mr. DeSantis posted on X on Oct. 17 that two cargo flights with 85 pallets of donated supplies were on their way to Israel.
Medical supplies included bandages, hospital gowns, IV kits, ventilators, and tens of thousands of needles, syringes, and surgical gloves, according to the governor’s office.
Comfort items included children’s toys, sleeping bags, clothing, and hygiene products.
In a video posted on X on Oct. 19, Mr. DeSantis said: “I’m happy to report we had another flight, bringing Floridians back from Israel, land in the wee hours of the morning.
“We’ve been able to help hundreds of people get back from the warzone safely to the United States, to the state of Florida.
“We’ve also put a lot of supplies that have been donated over to Israel and I know they’re really appreciative of it. And we’ve got another flight coming most likely tomorrow morning. So, [the] federal government dragged its feet.
“A lot of those folks didn’t have any options. We stepped up, showed the leadership, and are delivering results.”
Mr. DeSantis has strongly spoken out against accepting any refugees from Gaza and sought to separate himself from Ms. Haley on the subject.
“Over the weekend, she was taking issue with what I said,” he told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham on Oct. 17, “saying that you can separate someone who’s Hamas in Gaza with somebody who’s more of a freedom lover.
“So why would she be talking about that we can vet these people if she wasn’t saying that they should come to this country? We would have no role in vetting them unless you’re bringing them to this country.
“And so, she changed her tune. But here’s the thing: I don’t think that we can successfully vet when you have a lot of this, that’s just endemic to the culture. You don’t have to be a member of Hamas, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good fit in the United States of America.”
“Bringing in people in mass numbers, you’re also bringing in the culture that they’re coming from, and the pathologies in Gaza, how they’re taught to hate Jews and all these other things. We don’t want to be importing that into our country.”
Ms. Haley, after Mr. DeSantis raised the issue, said: “There’s no reason for any refugees to come to America, and my record’s very clear on that.”
But the DeSantis campaign produced a video of her, at her January 2017 confirmation hearings to become UN ambassador, saying: “As governor of South Carolina, we always welcomed the refugee program.”
The campaign has also derided President Trump’s controversial statements after the war broke out, one blaming it on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a one-time Trump ally, and another calling the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah “smart.”
The campaign needled “the Trump team’s pathetic attempt to clean up” their candidate’s remarks.
