{"id":37843,"date":"2023-10-26T20:25:33","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T00:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=37843"},"modified":"2023-10-26T20:25:41","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T00:25:41","slug":"desantis-says-hes-sending-weapons-to-israel-in-a-move-that-could-bolster-him-in-the-gop-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2023\/10\/26\/desantis-says-hes-sending-weapons-to-israel-in-a-move-that-could-bolster-him-in-the-gop-primary\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis says he\u2019s sending weapons to Israel in a move that could bolster him in the GOP primary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he\u2019s arranged to send drones, weapons, and ammunition to Israel as it prepares for an incursion of Gaza in response to Hamas\u2019 attack. It\u2019s the latest official response DeSantis has taken to back Israel as he competes in the 2024 Republican primary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Florida has sent cargo planes with healthcare supplies, drones, body armor, and helmets, said Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for the governor\u2019s office. The state also worked with groups to supply unspecified amounts of weapons and ammunition that were privately funded, Redfern said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeSantis\u2019 announcement led to confusion between the governor\u2019s office and an Israeli diplomat in Florida. The governor\u2019s office said it acted at the request of Israel\u2019s consul general in Miami. But Maor Elbaz-Starinsky, the consul general, said he did not request drones, body armor, or helmets, nor had he talked to the governor about help getting weapons or ammunition through private parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing went through me,\u201d Elbaz-Starinsky said. \u201cWe were never in communication on any shipments of arms or ammunition. The only thing that I have dealt with sending is medical supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After being asked about Elbaz-Starinsky\u2019s comments, Redfern reiterated that the governor\u2019s office was contacted by the consul general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeSantis has often applied his official powers to take actions that coincide with his larger political goals. Florida used state funds to fly migrants from Texas to Democratic-led areas such as Martha\u2019s Vineyard. And earlier this week, his administration ordered state universities to disband chapters of a pro-Palestinian student group. Since Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 attack, Florida has also run flights for about 700 Americans evacuated from Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The confirmation of the military aid comes as DeSantis and other GOP presidential contenders are expected to attend the Republican Jewish Coalition\u2019s annual gathering of donors, which kicks off Friday in Las Vegas. DeSantis is scheduled to speak Saturday morning to a Nevada Republican group at a casino-resort on the Las Vegas Strip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeSantis and the other candidates have largely lined up behind Israel and accused President Joe Biden of not doing enough to support the Israelis. DeSantis has swiped at former President Donald Trump, the heavy front-runner in the 2024 primary, and former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley over Israel as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s unclear whether DeSantis coordinated shipments of any weapons with the Biden administration. The Commerce Department regulates the shipment abroad of many types of U.S. weapons and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not illegal for the governor of a state to offer a measure of foreign assistance to another country,\u201d said John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House\u2019s National Security Council. \u201cThere are laws and regulations which govern how the export process is handled and that\u2019s all done through Commerce. I couldn\u2019t speak with authority today about whether the governor has checked all those boxes or not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The export of military equipment would typically require a license or some other authorization from either the Commerce or State Departments, depending on the precise item, said Thomas Krueger, a lawyer at the Akin Gump law firm who specializes in international trade and previously served as the director of strategic trade and nonproliferation at the White House\u2019s National Security Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt really all depends on the specifications of the items themselves, to determine what kind of export authorization would be required,\u201d Krueger said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he\u2019s arranged to send drones, weapons, and ammunition to Israel as it prepares for an incursion of Gaza in response to Hamas\u2019 attack. It\u2019s… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[6469],"class_list":["post-37843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-desantis-says-hes-sending-weapons-to-israel-in-a-move-that-could-bolster-him-in-the-gop-primary"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}