In response to Hamas attack on Israel, DeSantis calls for expanded sanctions against Iran

Speaking in response to the terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel since Saturday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that it’s clear Iran was behind the attacks and that he will respond by increasing sanctions against the Iranian government and block Iranian business in the state.

“You have barbarians from Hamas funded by the Iranian regime murdering elderly, children, raping women, doing things that are really indescribable,” DeSantis said while addressing an audience at The Shul of Bal Harbour, a synagogue in Surfside in Miami-Dade County.

Hamas has launched air and ground attacks on multiple Israeli cities and villages since Saturday in the largest assault on the nation in 50 years. Israel declared war on Hamas on Sunday.

While members of the Biden administration has said that they “have not seen” direct evidence that Iran was behind Hamas’ attack, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday night that Iranian security officials helped plan the surprise attack and “gave the green light” last week, citing senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militant group.

“Yes, Iran was involved in orchestrating this attack against Israel,” DeSantis said Tuesday. “We know that. It’s been reported. They deny it. But we’re smarter than that. So this issue of Iran really being the clearing house for terrorist financing in the region is something that the U.S. needs to take seriously. We should take all available avenues to choke off money going to the Iranian regime.”

Sanctions boost

DeSantis said his administration would roll out a proposal for the legislative session that begins in January to increase state sanctions on Iran and block Iranian business in Florida.

“Our proposed legislation will reenforce Florida’s commitment that we don’t do business with state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran,” he said.

“It’s going to expand the prohibition on state investment in Iranian businesses to include the financial, construction, manufacturing, textile, technology, mining, metals, ship building, and port sectors. We’re going to prohibit state and local governments from contracting with any company on this expanded sanctions list, and we will not lift these sanctions until both the president and the U.S. Congress certify that Iran has stopped supporting international terrorism and seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction. These will be by far the strongest Iran sanctions that any state has enacted of all 50 states throughout this country.”

The governor noted how this proposal builds upon previous efforts to support Israel and prohibit Florida from doing business with “foreign countries of concern,” including Iran.

Just weeks into his tenure as governor in 2019, DeSantis led Florida’s State Board of Administration in placing Airbnb on the state’s scrutinized companies list when the vacation rental company stopped listing properties located in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. He later called for similar sanctions on Ben & Jerry’s and its parent Unilever after the ice cream company announced plans to withdraw its products in those settlements.

He signed into law in 2019 a bill that added religion as a protected class in public schools and to consider antisemitism under certain instances of discrimination.

And while appearing in Jerusalem earlier this year to celebrate the Jewish state’s 75th anniversary, DeSantis signed anti-hate crime legislation that would increase penalties for intimidating or threatening someone based on religious or ethnic heritage.

DeSantis said he was instructing the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol to collaborate with Attorney General Ashley Moody to remind law enforcement agencies across the state of Florida’s laws protecting the Jewish community.

“It’s reminding that all law enforcement and prosecutors that any action that harbors terrorists are not helpful in the state of Florida, and that includes fundraising for Hamas or other terrorist groups,” he said. “If you’re doing that in Florida, then you’re going to be held accountable.”

‘Overwhlming force’

Israel has not only the right to defend itself, DeSantis said, but also “the duty to defend itself with overwhelming force. To defend itself in a way that Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure and networks are eradicated from the Earth.”

And he warned there may be talk in the coming days or weeks that Israel will be reacting militarily “disproportionately.” But he insisted that Americans needed to stay firm that “there is no moral equivalent” between Israel defending itself and “Hamas terrorists committing atrocities against civilians.”

The governor was joined by Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, who praised the “special bond” between Florida and the state of Israel. She criticized the governments of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua — all with sizeable expatriate populations in Florida — for refusing to denounce Hamas for their actions. “Not only do they criticize Israel, but they also have the audacity to justify these war crimes, these acts of terror, against Israeli citizens and other citizens from across the country and the world.”

And she said that there is “no two-state solution that we will ever accept.”

On Monday, two Democratic state lawmakers — state Sen. Lori Berman and Rep. Katherine Waldron — filed resolutions expressing Florida’s support for Israel. According to a press releases, the resolutions “recognize the right of the state of Israel to exist as a sovereign nation, condemn the unprovoked attack by Hamas against Israel, support Israel’s right to defend itself, and reaffirm the unwavering commitment between Florida and Israel.”

On Monday, the governor’s office ordered flags of the U.S. and Florida flown at half-staff at all local and state buildings, installations, and grounds until this Friday at sunset, and for the Florida Capitol to be lit in blue and white every night this week through this Friday evening as well.