STAYING PUT

‘Just Getting in the Way’: DeSantis Says He Won’t Travel to Israel Right Now

“They’ve got a job to do. Our job here in the United States is to support them.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized visits to Israel by his blue-state counterparts during a Friday interview with Newsmax. DeSantis argued such visits by U.S. politicians are ultimately not productive to Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas, and that he has elected to stay put. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul visited Israel this week, as did President Joe Biden, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom set to make a similar visit in the near future. DeSantis, in contrast, decried such trips and said that even though he’s been asked, he’s “not going to go over there at this time.” “I think that to have politicians going over there and trying to get—I think you’re just getting in the way of what’s going on,” DeSantis said on Newsmax. “They’ve got a job to do. Our job here in the United States is to support them.”