Gov. Ron DeSantis minced no words when discussing a potential state for the Palestinian people, calling the reported Joe Biden policy consideration "one of the biggest mistakes that a President has made in modern times" if it comes to pass.
The plan was first reported by the New York Times' Thomas Friedman, who wrote that if it came to pass, it "would involve some form of US recognition of a demilitarized Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would come into being only once Palestinians had developed a set of defined, credible institutions and security capabilities to ensure that this state was viable and that it could never threaten Israel."
Such safeguards don't reassure DeSantis, however, who claims that proposal would be "creating a stepping stone to the destruction of Israel" if it came to pass.
"The fact of the matter is Hamas and other Palestinian Arabs, they don't want their own state. They want the annihilation of Israel, they want the annihilation of the Jewish state. That is what motivates them," he said Friday in Bowling Green.
The Governor has contended for years, long before the October 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas that even Benjamin Netanyahu blames in part on a failure of Israeli intelligence, that "Palestinian Arabs always wanted to get rid of the Jewish state more than they wanted their own state." and resisted efforts for peace from Israel.
DeSantis' now-suspended presidential campaign, meanwhile, was replete with aspersions on Palestinian Arabs.
In December, he absolved Israel of blame for the then 18,000-plus civilian casualties in the ongoing war, calling those deaths "Hamas' fault."
He also had a recurrent routine in which he bashed Bethlehem, which is controlled by Palestinian Arabs, calling the city a "disgrace" and a "pigsty."
Ironically, though, one poll from late last year found that Americans regard Palestinians more favorably than they did DeSantis, who was then in the process of spending more than $160 million on a presidential campaign that competed in one state and won zero counties.
While Palestine had a lower favorable rating than the Republican presidential candidate, with 20% approval versus 27% for DeSantis, his unfavorable rating is what really tipped the scales.
While 47% of respondents disapproved of DeSantis, only 38% disapproved of Palestine in the survey conducted by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies, the latter of which polled for a super PAC supporting the Governor.
Nearly as many people had a very negative impression of DeSantis (37%) as who disapproved writ large of Palestine.
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