Desantis to visit Israel next month
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will deliver a keynote speech in front of 400 participants, including around 120 US Jewish philanthropists, at the “Celebrate the Faces of Israel” event in Jerusalem on April 27 sponsored by Jerusalem Post and Museum of Tolerance.
“A few months after my inauguration for my first term as governor of Florida, I traveled to Israel for a state visit with the largest ever trade delegation from the sunshine state to the Jewish state,” DeSantis said in a press release. “Since that time, we have strengthened the relationship between Florida and Israel through increased investment by Israeli companies in our state, fighting the scourge of BDS, and being home to the fastest-growing Jewish population in the United States,” he said. “At a time of unnecessarily strained relations between Jerusalem and Washington, Florida serves as a bridge between the American and Israeli people.”
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden told reporters that he would not be inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in the near future. The Jerusalem Post stated that the visit will be “part of a larger Florida/Asian trade delegation.”
It is widely believed that the governor will soon announce his intention to run for the Republican nomination to be the President of the United States.
DeSantis also traveled to Israel as governor in 2019 for a state visit, announcing the junket as proof that he was fulfilling his campaign promise to be “the most pro-Israel Governor in America”.
I promised to be the most pro-Israel Governor in America and our bold agenda for my upcoming Business Development Mission to Israel includes many historic firsts and strengthens Florida’s ties with Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) May 24, 2019
Desantis led a delegation of more than 90 leading citizens on the trade mission to Israel. The group included powerhouse lobbyists and business, education, and religious leaders.
While in Israel, the governor signed a resolution honoring the “Israeli-Florida relationship.” He also signed a bill prohibiting anti-Semitic remarks in Floridian public schools, forbidding comments that draw “comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis,” blame “Israel for all inter-religious or political tensions,” and require “behavior of Israel that is not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
The governor, a Roman Catholic, https://www.israel365news.com/352896/memorial-day-desantis-stands-with-israels-fallen-soldiers/concluded his trip with a visit to the Western Wall. While at the Jewish site that served as a retaining wall for the Jewish Temples that stood on the Temple Mount, Desantis offered up a silent prayer. Before leaving, he inserted a note between the rocks, as per popular custom, with the words, “Good Lord, spare us hurricanes this year.”
It was also reported that Florida Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz placed an identical note in the Western Wall when he visited Israel one month earlier.
DeSantis was also a member of the Israel Caucus and made an undivided Jerusalem one of his major issues
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