Israel-Hamas War

“We cannot accept people from Gaza as refugees”: Governor DeSantis believes U.S. should not allow in refugees

The Republican governor was at a meet-and-greet in Iowa when he commented following Israel's evacuation order of the northern section of the Gaza Strip.

NBC Universal, Inc.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Saturday that the United States should not let anyone from the Gaza Strip as a refugee.

The comments come after Israel ordered almost 1 million people to evacuate the northern part of the Strip on Friday afternoon as a ground offensive starts to gain momentum.

Watch NBC6 free wherever you are

Watch button  WATCH HERE

The Republican governor, who is campaigning as a Presidential candidate for 2024, was at a meet-and-greet in Iowa when he spoke about the Israel-Hamas War.

DeSantis also said he believes not all refugees are involved with Hamas, but he did call them anti-semite.

Get local news you need to know to start your day with NBC 6's News Headlines newsletter.

Newsletter button  SIGN UP

"Also, I will say, and I don't know what Biden's going do, but we cannot accept people from Gaza into this country as refugees. I am not going to do that. If you look at how they behave, not all of them are Hamas, but they are all anti-Semitic. None of them believe in Israel's right to exist. None of the Arab states are willing to take, you know, any of them. The Arab states should be taking them if you have refugees. You don't fly people and import them into the United States of America. So, we're going to be very strong on that. "

DeSantis has used the deadly attacks in Israel to attack the crisis situation in the Southern Border with Mexico.

"We've got some serious problems in this country. We've allowed a lot of these problems to fester. But my view is very simple. If you don't like this country, if you hate America, you should not come to this country."

On Tuesday, the Florida Governor denounced the attack on Israel and pledged his support by asking for state sanctions against Iran, whom he believes is backing Hamas, the terrorist group behind the surprise attack on Israel this week.

"What we witnessed this weekend was one of the worst terrorist attacks in the history of not just Israel but the modern world," DeSantis said in his speech at The Shul of Bal Harbour. "It's important that we say as Americans and as Floridians, we stand with the people of Israel and we stand with the state of Israel in this dark hour."

Contact Us