As a country with extremely close ties to the United States, Israel is one in which many American citizens were living and visiting at the time Hamas attacked, leaving a trail of death and destruction in the wake of its rockets and kill teams.
Though many of those Americans were able to get out of the war torn country, many others were left stranded in a land devolving into chaos and needed help getting out, aid that some allege was not sufficiently forthcoming from the Biden Administration. That’s why Governor DeSantis stepped in, sending an airlift to bring them home.
Reporting on the matter, The Messenger noted that the first of the airlift flights toughed down in Florida on Sunday night. It had carried home 260 Americans from Israel, where they had been stranded after the terrorist attacks.
According to The Mirror, Governor DeSantis was waiting at Tampa International Airport with Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis for the plane to touch down, greeting the rescued Americans after it did so and then using the incident to promote his 2024 campaign and contrast himself with President Joe Biden.
Governor DeSantis made his views on President Biden’s response to the tragedy crystal clear in a video posted to X (formerly Twitter) by his campaign, in which he explained the airlift, saying, “The Biden administration was dragging its feet.”
He continued, mocking the Biden State Department’s response to the situation, which he characterized as feckless: “They now say, ‘Well, maybe we’ll get flights and dump people in Europe.'” He then added, “But people don’t need to be dumped in Europe. They want to get home.”
NEW: @RonDeSantis announces the first flight of Floridians rescued from Israel will arrive in Florida tomorrow morning.
“When there is a void of leadership, we step up and get the job done.” pic.twitter.com/Mh7yAlXdy7
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) October 14, 2023
The Florida Division of Emergency Management tweeted about the airlift program, saying, “If you are stranded in Athens and in need of safe transportation back to the United States, we may be able to assist you. Please complete our form at http://FloridaDisaster.org/Israel and share it with anyone who may need assistance.”
The linked resource provides, “The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) is arranging for chartered flights home for Floridians currently in Israel. We need to know a little about you and your circumstance so we can determine if we’re able to help.”
https://twitter.com/FLSERT/status/1713669500204204416
DeSantis argued against importing Palestinian refugees over the weekend as well, saying, “I think if we were to import large numbers of those to the United States, I think it would increase antisemitism in this country. And I think it would increase anti-Americanism in this country. And that’s something after seeing those demonstrations pop up in our country, just with bloods still flowing amongst Israeli citizens over the weekend — you had people taking to the streets cheering on the barbarism of Hamas in our own country. That was a chilling thing to see. And I don’t think that that’s something that we should ever think is acceptable.”
The DeSanits policy follows on the heels of Rep. Cory Mills, a Trump supporter, rescuing a church group that was stranded in Israel. Explaining why he needed to step in, Rep. Mills said, “The first time I did it was in 2021, when I conducted the very first successful overland rescue of Americans, but here it is, the second time doing the Biden administration’s work, because they have no plan, they have no strategy to get these Americans out who are trapped and these church groups that had been left behind.”
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