LAS VEGAS, Nevada: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual summit that the U.S. needed to take action to support Israel in its fight against Hamas — and to stop infiltrations across America’s own southern border.
DeSantis recounted his horror at the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7. He also noted actions that he had taken since then — sending planes to fly Floridians home from the region, and banning Hamas-supporting groups from Florida state colleges.
He noted that Jewish students outside Florida had been subjected to a “disgraceful” campaign of antisemitism and intimidation. He expressed surprise that at Harvard and Yale, where he studied, an environment had arisen “where you’re actively celebrating terrorists, and openly being antisemitic.” He faulted policies like “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) for encouraging hatred.
“We need to take this seriously, becausue it’s only going to get worse,” he said, noting that he was calling the state legislature back into session to expand Florida’s own state-based sanctions against Iran, which was funding Palestinian terror organizations.
He warned that the U.S. needed to stop infiltrations across its own border. “I actually will make Mexico pay for it,” he quipped, referring to President Donald Trump’s famous 2016 campaign promise, saying he would impose fees on migrants’ remittances.
DeSantis also noted that he was the first presidential candidate to say “We cannot accept refugees from the Gaza Strip.” He argued that Palestinians elected Hamas [in parliamentary elections] and were cheering terror attacks, including those of 9/11.
He said that given the sheer depth of indoctrination in Gaza, allowing Palestinian refugees was too great a risk. “We can’t vet all this stuff out,” he said. He said that Middle Eastern refugees were bringing their own “blood feuds” to their new surroundings.
DeSantis said that Biden had brought about the current crisis in the Middle East by reversing sanctions on Iran, allowing the regime to use financial inflows to fund terrorism. He called U.S. troops “sitting ducks” for Iranian attack, saying Biden was not responding sufficiently harshly. “He’s gonna get some people killed. … Stop playing footsie with Iran. Get tough on Iran.”
He accused Biden of holding Israel back. “We should not be saying one thing in public and then restraining in private,” he said. He also opposed sending more money to Gaza for “humanitarian” purposes, since Hamas used the money to fund terror. And he said Biden needed to stop pushing the “two-state solution” when Palestinians made clear they did not want to live in peace with Israel.
Rather than treating Jews as colonial settlers in Judea and Samaria (known as the West Bank), DeSantis said that they should be regarded as the indigenous inhabitants of the region. “Read your history. Read your Bible,” he said, to applause.
DeSantis defended U.S. policies in support of Israel. “They’re the most dependable ally we have in a very troubled part of the world,” he noted. He listed shared values and shared interests.
He also said that Israelis were the “caretakers” of the land that gave birth to the Judeo-Christian principles upon which the United States had been founded. “We would not be here today as Americans were it not for what took place in the Holy Land, thousands of thousands of years ago,” DeSantis declared.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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