Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis organized evacuations from Tel Aviv to Florida for nearly 300 Americans who had been stuck in Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis welcomed almost 300 evacuees from ... [+]
The flights—arranged in partnership with non-profit Project Dynamo—were for Americans who weren’t able to get back to America due to “commercial flight cancellations,” according to the governor’s office.
More than 270 people arrived on a flight late Sunday from Israel to Tampa, and seven more will arrive in Orlando this afternoon, the governor’s office said in a press release.
The flights home were organized after DeSantis signed an executive order last Thursday allowing the state “to carry out logistical, rescue and evacuation operations to keep its residents safe” and transport supplies to Israel.
In a video posted to X, DeSantis said there was “a devoid [sic] of leadership, so we stepped up and led” to get people back to the U.S. back.
75%. That’s how many of the evacuees arriving in Florida were Floridians, according to NBC News. In addition, 91 of them were children, and eight dogs were evacuated.
After the first flight of evacuees landed, DeSantis continued to hold his stance that the U.S. should not take in Palestinian refugees, but could ask Arab countries to. DeSantis told NBC News he thinks that because there are already “all these people coming illegally” to the U.S., Palestinian refugees “should go to the Arab countries.”
The U.S. announced late last week—the same day DeSantis signed his executive order—that it would be organizing evacuation flights for citizens stuck in Israel. Those flights “to provide transportation from Israel to sites in Europe” began Friday for American citizens and their immediate families, according to White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, and the White House was planning to have at least four charter flights a day out of Israel. The need for evacuation comes as Israel and Hamas—a Gaza-based militant group—are in their second week of war following Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7 that killed around 1,400 Israelis. As of early Monday morning, at least 2,750 people in Gaza had died, according to Reuters. There are also still nearly 200 Israeli hostages in Gaza, Israel’s military said Monday. The death toll for Americans has risen to at least 30, ABC News reported Sunday night, and there are still 13 Americans missing.
“I am proud of how quickly we have been able to activate resources and do what the federal government could not—get Floridians and other Americans back home, reunited with their families, free of charge,” DeSantis said in the press release.