Gov. DeSantis greets flight at Tampa International carrying Americans fleeing Israel
TAMPA - Many sighs of relief for nearly 300 Americans who are now back in the country after a long flight from Israel.
Governor Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis greeted them as they arrived at Tampa International Airport on Sunday night.
Last week, DeSantis signed an executive order allowing for the Florida Division of Emergency Management to bring Floridians home and transport supplies to Israel.
The group of about 270, which included 91 children and four dogs, flew from Tel Aviv to Portugal and then to Florida.
Many on the flight were from Florida.
"We saw our folks needed help. We of course have a very close relationship between Florida and Israel. A lot of our folks travel back and forth have family and friends so we knew this would be a big issue for this state," said DeSantis.
It is the first state-coordinated one, but not the last.
The US State Department is also working to get Americans stuck in Israel out. Other countries are also chartering flights to get their citizens out of the war zone.
DeSantis said he doesn't feel the US should accept Palestinian refugees.
"We cannot in the United States take the refugees, the Gaza Palestinian Arabs to Florida, to the United States," said DeSantis. "I pointed out, and a lot of the media don't want to talk about it, you know, they teach the kids in Gaza to hate Jews. They have maps in the textbooks with Israel not even on the map."
DeSantis argued that Arab states should accept refugees from Gaza, who are attempting to cross south into Egypt, rather than refugees being "import(ed)" to the United States.
The governor also said this will not be the last flight Florida helps coordinate. DeSantis said he believes there are still up to one thousand Floridians that are still in Israel they could end up flying home.