‘Butt out’ and stop meddling in ‘Israel’s affairs’ – DeSantis slams Biden admin

Gov. Ron DeSantis blasts Biden administration’s comments disapproving of judicial reform, cabinet appointments, stresses that Israel can make her own decisions.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president, slammed the Biden administration for its repeated criticisms of internal Israeli policies, saying the U.S. should stay out of the Jewish state’s decisions.

Speaking at a Jerusalem Post conference in Jerusalem on Thursday morning, DeSantis stressed that Israel is a sovereign state whose allies should trust her to make responsible choices.

President Joe Biden recently said he was “very concerned” about potential reforms to Israel’s judicial system and implied that he would not invite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House “any time soon” as a punitive measure due to the legislation.

In December 2022, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides suggested that the U.S. had attempted to prevent Netanyahu from appointing Religious Zionist politicians Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir to positions within his cabinet.

The Biden administration should “butt out of Israel’s affairs,” DeSantis said, to cheers from the audience at the conference.

“You’re a smart country. You can figure it out. We shouldn’t butt in to these important issues,” he added.

DeSantis also acknowledged a disproportionate focus on Israel within international entities, including the United Nations.

“The U.S. must defend Israel against disfavored treatment by the UN and agenda-driven international bodies…and we must reject those who reject Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state,” he said.

DeSantis noted that Israeli control of the capital city means that all Abrahamic faiths are able to access their holy sites.

“With Israeli sovereignty over the city of Jerusalem, people have the ability to visit those sites freely. That would not be true if it were in other hands,” DeSantis said.

At the conference, DeSantis signed a bill that stiffened penalties against antisemitic attacks and hate speech in Florida.

“We are doing what we can do in Florida to enhance the ability to hold people accountable when that really crosses the line into threatening conduct,” he said. “We are fighting back.”