Gov. DeSantis' trip to Israel met with criticism

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was back to work in the Capitol on Tuesday, but his trip to Israel was being criticized on social media as a junket.

There have been some positive outcomes of the trip and more are likely to follow.

In Israel, from daylight to dark, the governor was on the move and the Twittersphere has been taking him to task for the trip.

While most paid their own way, the governor, three Cabinet members and a staff of 20, including the heads of at least three agencies, traveled on the taxpayer's dime.

Dozens of agreements were signed between Florida universities and Israeli institutions. 

At a chamber of commerce meeting, 500 people heard the governor speak about Florida. 

“I would say Florida right now in our country is second to none in terms of a place to build a business,” said DeSantis.

Minutes later, DeSantis was behind closed doors meeting Eyal Zadicario, the CEO of Insightec, which is an Israeli-based company with a U.S. headquarters in Miami. 

“The company basically developed insidious neural surgery, transforming neural surgery to completely outpatient. No hospitalization,” said Zadicario.

“They want to really expand the footprint in Florida, and I think we have an opportunity to link them with some of our universities,” said DeSantis.

Manny Mencina, Enterprise Florida’s senior vice president for international relations said it's going to take time to determine how successful the trip was.

“I think what you are doing here is building an infrastructure that’s going to pay results for many years to come,” said Mencina.

The trip's costs are still being calculated.