(CNN) The battle of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis against Disney overshadowed his foreign visit to Jerusalem on Thursday, as he answered questions about the entertainment giant’s lawsuit against him by saying it lacked “merit.”
“I don’t think the suit has any merit. I think it’s political,” said DeSantis, a Republican, when asked at a news conference about a new lawsuit against Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The company accused DeSantis and his political allies of overseeing the company’s special tax district in violation of the company’s “federal constitutional rights.”
Disney, DeSantis said, “is upset that they have to follow the same rules as everybody else,” adding that the special district means the company has “no accountability, no transparency, none of that.”
The feud erupted in the middle of DeSantis’ overseas trade tour, which included a stop in Asia before a speech in Israel as he prepares for a potential run against former President Donald Trump for 2024. Republican presidential nomination. He will end the trip with a stop in the United Kingdom.
The governor spoke to officials and journalists at a time of heightened tensions between Israel and the United States and amid rising antisemitism within his own state. His speech at “Celebrate the Faces of Israel,” an event sponsored by the Jerusalem Post and the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem, came during the third stop on DeSantis’ worldwide tour that has landed him in Japan and South Korea, and will end with a visit to the United Kingdom.
In a speech, DeSantis echoed familiar conservative themes: he called Jerusalem the “eternal capital of the Jews,” called Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons an “existential threat” to Jewish State and said the United Nations unfairly criticized Israel.
The event thrust DeSantis into national turmoil in Israel, which has been marked by sectarian violence and domestic uprisings over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to reform the country’s judiciary. Those plans, temporarily put on hold, led to rising tensions between President Joe Biden and Netanyahu.
Speaking Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Netanyahu said he would meet with DeSantis during the visit.
“Of course I’ll meet everyone. Why?” he said. “I meet with Republican governors and Democratic governors. I meet with every American representative, governor, senator, members of Congress. It’s my job. And I think it’s important for the bipartisan support of Israel in the United States . this.”
Reports of antisemitic incidents in Florida
In his speech on Thursday, DeSantis said that “Florida is leading the way in combating the scourge of antisemitism.”
“We treat antisemitism the way we treat racism,” he said. “So if it’s not OK to attack someone on the basis of their race — which it isn’t — it should also not be OK to engage in antisemitic tropes.”
Leading up to DeSantis’ arrival in Israel, Florida lawmakers passed bipartisan legislation targeting a recent rise in episodes of antisemitism in the state. Last year, hundreds of flyers falsely claiming that the public health response to Covid-19 was orchestrated by Jews were distributed to homes in South Florida. And in October, antisemitic messages were projected outside TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville during a Florida-Georgia college football game.
Meanwhile, reports of neo-Nazi activity are on the rise, according to the Anti-Defamation League. A recent analysis from the organization found 269 recorded antisemitic incidents in Florida last year, an all-time high and double the total from 2020.
The legislation makes it a crime to litter with hateful messages on private property, harass and threaten people who wear or display items that reflect their religious or ethnic heritage, and the display or projecting hateful images on buildings and structures without the owner’s permission.
On Wednesday, DeSantis’ office announced publicly that he had received the bill, which usually means he will likely sign it into law soon. During a 2019 visit to Israel, DeSantis ceremonially signed a measure banning antisemitic speech in public schools and universities. Given the timing, a similarly symbolic gesture on foreign soil is likely, though his office did not respond to a CNN inquiry.
Amid a rise in antisemitic attacks in Florida, DeSantis has faced criticism from Democrats and others in the state, who have accused the governor of doing little more than condemning the demonstrations. to the public of hatred.
Last year, DeSantis criticized people who called on him to condemn the Nazi demonstrations near Orlando, accusing his political opponents of trying to “rub me like I had something to do with it.” Earlier in the day, a spokesman for DeSantis deleted a tweet that suggested the demonstrators might be Democrats in disguise.
“Signing these pieces of legislation does not erase his silence on the rise of anti-Semitism over the past few years,” said Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried, herself a member of the Jewish faith. . “He has an obligation to stand up and say that hate speech is not welcome in the state of Florida and he continues to be silent every time.”
Jeffrey Salkin, a columnist for Religious News Service and a rabbi at Temple Israel in West Palm Beach, said he was grateful to see DeSantis travel to Israel and hoped he would use the platform to address the rise of antisemitism in around the world and “speak for democratic. values.”
“The rise of antisemitism, of course, fills all American Jews and others with deep fear,” Salkin said. “We need Gov. DeSantis to speak out loud and clear when antisemitic acts occur in Florida itself. He must also denounce the reactionary forces that have endangered Jewish lives and livelihoods for centuries.”
The visit continues DeSantis’ alliance with Israel
DeSantis has long positioned himself as an ally of Israel, visiting the country several times as a member of Congress and during his first six months as governor. He has always sided with Israel in its ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, suggesting in 2019 that the latter are not interested in peace.
“If you look at the whole conflict, for me, the biggest problem is that the Palestinian Arabs do not recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state,” he said. “That kind of denial really hurts everyone.”
DeSantis has previously received support from some of the Republican Party’s most powerful pro-Israel donors, including $500,000 during his 2018 race for governor from Miriam Adelson and her husband, the casino magnate that Sheldon Adelson. The couple also donated $5 million to the state GOP after DeSantis won the party’s gubernatorial nomination that year.
Last November, DeSantis was warmly welcomed at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting, the first major Republican beef call in the 2024 White House race.
Mel Sembler, a board member for the coalition, said he was encouraged to see DeSantis spend time in Israel ahead of his likely presidential campaign. Sembler once accompanied George W. Bush to Israel before the Texas governor launched his campaign for the White House.
Sembler, however, said he is concerned that DeSantis and other Republicans have so far failed to make a strong case for GOP voters to look beyond former president Donald Trump. in 2024. Unless he secures the nomination, Sembler said, DeSantis’ positions on Israel may be moot.
“He has to be elected president to get anything done there,” Sembler said.
