'We cannot accept them!' Ron DeSantis wants to close the border to Gaza refugees
As thousands of Palestinians flee north Gaza under Israeli evacuation orders, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said the US should not accept refugees from Gaza.
Ron DeSantis says USA should not take in refugees from Gaza
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Saturday that the US should not take in refugees from Gaza as thousands of Palestinians flee out of north Gaza.
Palestinians have crammed into cars and donkey carts to escape to the south, among Israeli government warnings to evacuate before an anticipated ground invasion.
Speaking at a campaign event, DeSantis said: “I don’t know what Biden’s going to do, but we cannot accept people from Gaza into this country as refugees.”
DeSantis spoke to a small crowd in Creston, Iowa, and said that other Arab states should take in the refugees.
He claimed: “If you look at how they behave, not all of them are Hamas, but they are all antisemitic. None of them believe in Israel’s right to exist.”
READ MORE: Palestinians cram into cars as they flee for their lives under Israel's deadline
Other Republican presidential candidates did not go quite as far as DeSantis did on Saturday.
Answering questions at the New Hampshire Republican Party’s Leadership Summit in Nashua, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said that the US should support refugees, but not necessarily take them in.
Scott said: “We’ve continued to work with Egypt to provide safe passage for American citizens, and we should continue to work with our folks that we can in order to make sure that there’s a passage.”
Scott did not respond to a question about where specifically fleeing Palestinians should go.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued a similar statement, saying that the refugee crisis in Gaza “is not a United States refugee issue” and that countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia should “step up.”
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But Hutchinson criticized DeSantis’ characterization of Palestinians as antisemitic, saying to reporters that “it’s a danger any time that you categorize a group of people as being simply antisemitic.”
When asked to respond to Hutchinson’s comments just hours later, DeSantis said: “I will challenge anyone to say that in some of these countries that virulent antisemitism is not the norm…if you’re not willing to acknowledge that, then you’ve got your head in the sand.”
Iowa state Rep. Bill Gustoff, who has endorsed DeSantis’ presidential campaign, said in an interview: “I’m always reticent to characterize anybody of any group to be ‘all’ this way or that way.
“I think the sentiment among Palestinians would be antisemitic. That doesn’t mean all Palestinians are antisemitic.”
At least 1,300 people have been killed in Israel in Hamas terrorists’ attack, and thousands more have been injured as the conflict escalates.
Over 1,900 people have been killed in Gaza, and more than 7,600 are wounded. The toll of American deaths has risen to 29, according to the State Department.
Right now, the only exit out of Gaza - the Rafah border crossing in northeast Egypt - remains closed.
DeSantis signed an executive order on Thursday authorizing Florida to charter flights to get Floridians stuck in Israel back to the US.
He said on Thursday in New Hampshire: “We’re going to be sending our own planes, and we’re going to be bringing people right back to Florida. You know, you can’t just sit around waiting for things to happen; you got to make things happen.”
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