Florida State Senator Jay Collins has spent the last six days in Cyprus, Israel, and Jordan helping Americans evacuate Israel amid the country’s conflict with Iran.
Collins, who is teaming up with Grey Bull Rescue and acting as the liaison for the State of Florida, told The Daily Wire that there are just under 5,000 Americans on the list to leave.
“We’re doing all that we can,” Collins told The Daily Wire. “It’s time to get our people home.”
Collins’ team has been assisting Americans traveling to Jordanian airports get on to chartered flights back to the United States. They also assisted in evacuating about 1,500 Americans who were on a 10-day Birthright trip to Israel, arranging for them to take a cruise ship to Cyprus, where they were able to board flights home.
Collins said Florida, under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, is the only state government playing a role in evacuating Americans, including those who are not Floridians. According to Collins, Florida is providing some logistical and financial support.
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“We’re the only state doing this,” he said. “I think that leadership matters, we stand for our people and we are willing to protect them and that’s what we are going to do,” he said.
Florida also played a role in the aftermath of October 7 by evacuating 200 Americans and sending two large planes to Israel with 85 pallets of donated supplies.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee announced that the State Department is working on getting military, commercial and charter flights, as well as cruise ships to help Americans evacuate as well.
Collins said he has seen a wide variety of Americans evacuate including elderly people and families with young children.
“Overwhelmingly, many of them thought the Iron Dome was impenetrable but when these supersonic missiles started landing, it really rocked people’s world,” he said. “It’s just a different kind of munition that they’ve seen in other conflicts. It’s very real.”
Collins shared that one evacuee thought “everything was going to be fine until he saw a drone fly by his window.”
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Newsweek’s senior editor-at-large, Josh Hammer, was one of the evacuees who worked with Collins and Grey Bull Rescue, fleeing with his wife and six-month-old daughter this week.
“For four days after that, we more or less stayed put and tried to ride out the storm,” Hammer said, adding that he decided to leave after an Iranian ballistic missile struck the town near where he was staying on Sunday night. “We made frequent visits to the basement bomb shelter in the home where we were staying, having to be ready at a moment’s notice to jump out of a deep sleep and seek emergency protection ASAP in the wee hours of the morning.”
For some personal news —
As you may recall, I was in Israel when the IDF began its operations in Iran last week. For four days after that, we more or less stayed put and tried to ride out the storm. We made frequent visits to the basement bomb shelter in the home where we were…
— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) June 19, 2025
“I love my Israeli friends and recently published an entire book on this topic,” Hammer added. “But I had to do the only responsible thing a father in my situation would do — get us out.”
Since the conflict began, Iran has launched more than 450 missiles at Israel, with 50 making impact. A total of 24 Israelis have been killed, and 1,217 injured — including 12 in serious condition, 37 moderately injured, and 1,156 with minor injuries. More than 30,735 property damage claims have been filed, and 8,190 people have been evacuated from their homes.
“Grey Bull Rescue’s expertise on the ground is unquestionable,” Collins said. “CEO Bryan Stern and members of his board are incredibly gifted.”
Stern’s nonprofit is credited with saving 117 Americans stranded in Afghanistan following former President Joe Biden’s chaotic military withdrawal.
In the next mission, Collins says he hopes to evacuate 300 to 600 people. While the group still has the ability to use ships, Collins says that as of now they prefer using chartered jets.
Collins said he has had a positive experience working with the Israeli government — which is currently running repatriation flights for thousands of Israelis stranded overseas.
“The Israelis have been incredibly supportive,” he said. “The entire government has been supportive, and the Jordanians as well. I couldn’t ask for more, frankly.”
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Collins, a Green Beret and combat veteran who lost his leg due to injuries while serving in Afghanistan, said he remains focused while operating under missile attacks and is grateful for Israel’s early missile warning system.
“This is just another theater,” he said. “Israel has an incredible early warning system that gives us a heads-up. I’ve been in combat and I am not afraid of it, but I respect it. I am just focused on getting our people home.”
Collins said he is unsure if the conflict will come to an end soon, but pointed out the options on the table.
“Either Iran is going to back down or Israel is going to back down which is highly unlikely,” he said. “It could become an all-out conflict, or there could be an uprising in Iran which leads to a shift back to the Shah and away from Iran’s current regime, which would be amazing. Under the Shah, Iran was much more free, and had a better relationship with America. It would be great for the Middle East.”