Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday blasted a resolution passed by a local government last week in Miami-Dade County — the most populous county in Florida — that calls for supporting peace and security for “all innocent civilians in Israel, Gaza and Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
The resolution — which does not include the word “ceasefire”— was passed by the Doral City Council last Wednesday.
“I think it’s a total fraud, and the fact they’re doing that here in South Florida is a joke,” DeSantis said in Coral Gables, where he took questions from reporters Monday after signing a bill that cracks down on human trafficking. “The people of Florida as a whole but certainly the people of South Florida, they stand with the state of Israel. Israel was the one who was attacked,” he said to cheers.
The governor then went on to talk about the protests supporting Palestinians that have taken place on college campuses in Florida over the past few weeks. “I think they have the right to do that. I mean, the more they open their mouth, I think they look like a horse’s patoot but that’s fine.”
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt,” he added to applause.
The actual language in the resolution reads as such:
“The City Council supports an immediate end to all hostilities in Israel, Gaza, and Occupied Palestinian Territories; release of all hostages, the unrestricted entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza; the restoration of food, water, electricity, and medical supplies to Gaza; the respect for international law; the protection and security of all innocent civilians; and a peaceful and lasting political solution to the crisis.”
The resolution also condemned the “recent rise of Antisemitic, Islamophobic, and Xenophobic attacks in our neighboring cities and across the nation, including the leaking of personal information of students, professors, professionals and others expressing their political opinion.”
–Michael Moline, Florida Phoenix
