By: Kate Anderson, Daily Caller News Foundation
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida called the Biden administration’s treatment of Israel a disgrace Monday during a Christian conference in Virginia.
The White House is gearing up for a visit from Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is set to meet with President Joe Biden Tuesday and give a speech to members of Congress, while tensions between the U.S. and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain high. DeSantis spoke Monday at the Christians United for Israel conference in Arlington, Virginia, and accused the administration of not supporting Israel and that the president needed to “butt out” of Israel’s judicial reform process, according to the Washington Times.
“I think we are in dire need of repairing the U.S.-Israel relationship,” DeSantis said. “What this administration has done I think is disgraceful, the way they treat a strong ally like Prime Minister Netanyahu has been disgraceful. What they are trying to do to shoehorn Israel into bad policies has been disgraceful. You have different things going on in Israel, like judicial reform, Biden needs to butt out of that and let Israel govern itself.”
An invite to Netanyahu to the White House has been denied on several occasions and the president called the Israeli leader’s government the “most extreme” he has witnessed in his lifetime, according to the Jewish News Syndicate. However, following a call between Biden and Netanyahu Monday the president extended an invitation for the two to meet but didn’t specify whether or not it would be at the White House, according to the Times of Israel.
DeSantis further chastised Biden for not responding strongly enough against Iran, which has threatened both the U.S. and Israel with its nuclear and missile programs, according to the Washington Times.
“Biden is appeasing the Iranians,” DeSantis said. “He is giving them a free pass.”
DeSantis also took aim at the administration’s two-state plan for Israel and Palestinians that would change Israel’s borders back to where they were in 1967 before the Six-Day War.
“First of all, those borders are indefensible, they want to carve up Jerusalem and all that, but here is the thing: You can’t do peace with people who don’t believe you have a right to exist as a Jewish state,” DeSantis said, according to the Washington Times.
Former Israeli Prime Minister and leader of the Yesh Atid opposition party Yair Lapid said Monday about the growing ill will between the two traditionally close countries that he did not consider the U.S. to be Israel’s “closest ally” anymore.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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