XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.misc, talk.politics.guns
XPost: rec.arts.tv, alt.atheism

DESANTIS HAS HIS OWN BIG LIE.


Ron DeSantis's claim he sent military equipment to Israel unravels

Florida governor receives pushback for falsely declaring he worked with Israel's consul general in Miami to send weapons
Richard Luscombe in Miami
@richlusc
Fri 27 Oct 2023 15.46 BST


Ron DeSantis is receiving pushback from Israeli diplomats, Florida
Democrats and the White House after he falsely claimed credit for a gun- running operation to assist Israel's military operations in Gaza.

The Florida governor and 2024 presidential hopeful declared on Thursday
that he had worked with Israel's consul general in Miami to send military equipment, including drones, body armor and helmets.
NYU Students gather for Palestine, New York, USA - 17 Oct 2023<br>
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Laura Brett/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
(14156103a) A Palestinian flag flies during a pro-Palestinian rally
organized by the NYU Students for Justice in Palestine. NYU Students
gather for Palestine, New York, USA - 17 Oct 2023
DeSantis seeks to 'deactivate' pro-Palestinian student groups in Florida
Read more

His office, according to Reuters, said it had worked to "get weapons and ammunition to Israel through private parties" as part of his high-profile "rescue operation". The operation involved sending humanitarian supplies
on chartered planes and returning from Israel hundreds of US citizens who wanted to come home following the Hamas attacks.

His boast, however, started to unravel when Maor Elbaz-Starinsky, Israel's consul general, told the news agency he had not asked for DeSantis's help,
and that the governor's involvement was limited to smoothing paperwork requirements for a previously arranged shipment of "rifle parts" ordered
by his government.

"I am not aware and would find it very, very bizarre to think that
somebody is procuring weapons and sending it to Israel," he said. "This is
not how we work. And certainly not privately funded."

DeSantis has made hardline support of Israel a prominent part of his
flailing campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, pledging to
turn away Palestinian refugees if he was in the White House, and expelling pro-Palestinian student groups from Florida's university campuses.

He has called a special session of the Florida legislature for early next
month to approve state sanctions on Iranian businesses and interests.

With other presidential contenders, he will attend a donor gathering of
the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas this weekend. On Friday, he
will deliver a speech on foreign policy at the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC.

Critics accuse him of acting as if he were president, and operating a de
facto foreign policy from the governor's mansion in Tallahassee that is
not under his purview.

"President Biden is the commander in chief of our military, not Ron
DeSantis," said Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic party, in a statement to the Miami Herald.

"As a navy veteran, Ron should understand the importance of respecting the chain of command. This is a gross breach of norms and a potential
violation of federal laws governing the shipment of weapons."

John Kirby, strategic communications director for the National Security Council, told reporters at the White House on Thursday that he could not
be certain DeSantis had "checked all the boxes".

"It is not illegal for the governor of a state to offer a measure of
foreign assistance to another country [but] there are laws and regulations which govern how the export process is handled," he said.

"That's all done through commerce. I couldn't speak with authority today
about whether the governor has checked all those boxes or not."
skip past newsletter promotion



In a statement to the Guardian, a spokesperson for the Department of
Commerce said they could not confirm details of particular transactions,
but reminded US exporters "seeking to provide support for Israel" that appropriate federal authorizations were necessary.

"Consistent with the president's direction, the Bureau of Industry and
Security and our interagency partners are working to appropriately
expedite applications for assistance to Israel," the spokesperson said.

Elbaz-Starinsky told the Herald that all necessary approvals for the rifle parts requested by Israel had been obtained, but said he was not certain
it was DeSantis's office that helped secure them.

"It was really the first days of the war, everyone was panicked and
stressed, everything was urgent," he told the newspaper.

"I approached a few contacts, including the governor's office, to get the
final approval. It went through all the process. I'm not even sure, at the
end of the day, which one untangled this thing and made the shipment be approved."

DeSantis's office, meanwhile, has backed away from its initial claim it
worked directly with the consul general to "help get weapons and
ammunition".

Jeremy Redfern, the governor's press secretary, told Reuters that DeSantis
"was contacted by the consul general's office for assistance to clear
federal bureaucratic hurdles associated with getting those items to
Israel".

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)