Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed his strong support of Israel on Tuesday amid the ongoing conflict with Hamas and vowed to increase Florida’s sanctions on Iran, which both Israel and the U.S. State Department say supports Hamas.
“We are remaining vigilant at the state level to ensure that anybody throughout the state, particularly of our Jewish community, is not targeted,” DeSantis said, adding that Florida has a large Jewish and Israeli-American community.
Florida’s Israeli-American community is the third largest in the U.S. after California and New York.
DeSantis was joined at a news conference at Surfside synagogue by Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez and Maor Elbaz-Starinsky, the Consul General of Israel in Miami.
The Surfside community has a largely Jewish population. In 2021, a condo building in Surfside collapsed, killing nearly 100 people, many of whom were from the Jewish community.
DeSantis acknowledged the turmoil the community has faced and said the current conflict is perhaps Israel’s greatest challenge since it was recognized as a state.
“This was over the weekend the largest number of Jewish civilians killed in a single day since the Holocaust,” DeSantis said, a statement backed by reports from The Times of Israel.
DeSantis said he and his wife are praying for those who were killed, including at least 11 Americans, and for those who are missing or captured.
“Israel not only has the right to defend itself, it has the duty to defend itself with overwhelming force,” DeSantis said, before condemning the Biden administration’s policy on Iran. “We should be talking about how it’s wrong to support policies that enrich the Iranian regime.”
DeSantis said he plans a proposal for the next legislative session that will increase Florida’s sanctions on Iran and block Iranian business in the state.
“Our proposed legislation will, of course, reinforce Florida’s commitment that we don’t do business with state sponsors of terrorism, such as Iran,” DeSantis said. “It’s going to expand the prohibition on state investment in Iranian businesses to include the financial, construction, manufacturing, textile, technology, mining, metals, shipping, shipbuilding and port sectors.”
DeSantis also touted his administration’s efforts to enact legislation to combat antisemitism and to prohibit state investment in companies that discriminate against Israel.
“I’m angry at what happened. I think that we need justice. And I think that justice needs to be so severe that they wouldn’t think of doing this ever, ever again,” DeSantis said. “You can count on us to be a friend and to be an ally of the State of Israel and of the Jewish people.”