Ron DeSantis to Visit Israel as He Aims to Establish Himself to Trump’s Right - U.S. News - Haaretz.com
WASHINGTON — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, widely considered former U.S. President Donald Trump’s top rival in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries, will visit Israel in April.
While the trip is ostensibly to address a “Celebrate the Faces of Israel” event co-sponsored by the Jerusalem Post and Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, DeSantis will undoubtedly attempt to use his visit as an opportunity to stake claim as the most pro-Israel Republican aiming for the White House.
DeSantis, who will be traveling to Israel as a part of a larger Florida/Asian trade delegation, will deliver the keynote address before a crowd of 400 participants, including around 120 U.S. Jewish philanthropists. According to a press release from the sponsoring organizations, he will speak about “the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship – especially in difficult times.”
File photos of former U.S. President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis from 2022.Credit: GAELEN MORSE/ REUTERS
The GOP front-runner, who has visited Israel three times as a member of Congress and once as governor (the sum total of his official foreign visits, as reported by the New York Times) has embodied the Republican Party’s rightward shift on Israel, having been among the most ardent supporters of Israel (and defenders against the country’s critics) since his time in the House.
This includes a January 2017 House speech calling for the U.S. to defund the United Nations until the UN Security Council revoked a resolution condemning Israeli settlements as a violation of international law.
To that end, DeSantis has long sought to establish himself to Trump’s right on Israel, including visiting potential U.S. Embassy locations in Jerusalem and criticizing him several months later for failing to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem six months prior to Trump’s landmark decision. He also pushed Trump to recognize Israel’s authority over the Golan Heights, which Trump would eventually do two weeks prior to Israel’s April 2019 election.
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DeSantis additionally was a vocal critic of Trump’s attempts at reaching “the deal of the century” between Israel and the Palestinians. Addressing last year’s Republican Jewish Coalition confab, DeSantis cited his record fighting short-term homestay firm Airbnb after it temporarily delisted 200 properties in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, rejecting describing “Judea and Samaria as occupied territory,” instead calling the West Bank “disputed territory” while calling for public events to be held there.
He also told the crowd an anecdote about bringing water back from the Sea of Galilee to baptize his children before a house cleaner threw out the bottle. Israeli supporters sent him new water within 24 hours after he made a plea for a replacement.
Surrounded by state legislators and Jewish leaders, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, center, holds up two bills that he signed, in June 2021, at the Shul of Bal Harbour, a Jewish community center in Surfside, Florida. DeSantis visited the South Florida temple to denounce anti-Semitism and stand with Israel, while signing a bill into law that would require public schools in his state to set aside moments of silence for children to meditate or pray.Credit: Wilfredo Lee / AP
“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 statement.
“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 continued. “At a time of unnecessarily strained relations between Jerusalem and Washington, Florida serves as a bridge between the American and Israeli people.”