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DeSantis to speak in Israel amid politic

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  • JERUSALEM — As a congressman, Ron DeSantis traveled here to scout U.S. Embassy sites, encouraging then-President Donald Trump to buck diplomatic tradition and recognize the contested holy city as the capital of Israel.
  • Now he’s headed to Jerusalem for his highest-profile platform yet to discuss foreign affairs ahead of a 2024 presidential campaign: A keynote speech and news conference Thursday at an event that also features Israel’s president. The appearance is expected to highlight DeSantis’s close alignment with Israel — an asset in a Republican primary — at what DeSantis has called “a time of unnecessarily strained relations between Jerusalem and Washington.” 
  • The governor has been an outspoken critic of President Biden, including during his current four-country Florida trade mission. Thursday’s visit will test anew the governor’s desire to challenge the president abroad. Biden last month criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s push to reduce the power of his country’s judiciary, a plan that has sparked mass protests and alarmed some government officials. 
  • Netanyahu and his allies — part of the most far-right government in Israel’s history — denounce the country’s courts as liberal “activist” institutions in need of an overhaul. Their proposals include allowing parliament to override Supreme Court decisions; and giving the government more power to pick judges, possibly including those overseeing Netanyahu’s corruption trial. Critics contend the overhaul would destroy Israel’s system of checks and balances and do lasting damage to its democracy. 
  • DeSantis has developed a reputation in the United States as a hard-line conservative who opposed many coronavirus restrictions, passed restrictions on school discussion of gender and sexual orientation and sought to punish Disney after it opposed the legislation. (Disney is now suing DeSantis.) Thursday’s visit could help distinguish DeSantis in a GOP field staunchly supportive of Israel, as he addresses a crowd filled with American conservative donors. 
  • “It’s a very smart decision for an early trip,” said Elliott Abrams, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who worked in the presidential administrations of Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Donald Trump. He noted that Trump thrilled many Jewish Republicans with his approach to Israel as president but also said many are looking beyond him for 2024. 
  • Trump, who is running for president again and polls well ahead of his rivals, took Israel’s side in decades-long thorny disputes over territory. He moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem after many years of unfulfilled GOP promises, and recognized the contested Golan Heights region as Israel’s.


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  • JERUSALEM — As a congressman, Ron DeSantis traveled here to scout U.S. Embassy sites, encouraging then-President Donald Trump to buck diplomatic tradition and recognize the contested holy city as the capital of Israel.
  • Now he’s headed to Jerusalem for his highest-profile platform yet to discuss foreign affairs ahead of a 2024 presidential campaign: A keynote speech and news conference Thursday at an event that also features Israel’s president. The appearance is expected to highlight DeSantis’s close alignment with Israel — an asset in a Republican primary — at what DeSantis has called “a time of unnecessarily strained relations between Jerusalem and Washington.” 
  • The governor has been an outspoken critic of President Biden, including during his current four-country Florida trade mission. Thursday’s visit will test anew the governor’s desire to challenge the president abroad. Biden last month criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s push to reduce the power of his country’s judiciary, a plan that has sparked mass protests and alarmed some government officials. 
  • Netanyahu and his allies — part of the most far-right government in Israel’s history — denounce the country’s courts as liberal “activist” institutions in need of an overhaul. Their proposals include allowing parliament to override Supreme Court decisions; and giving the government more power to pick judges, possibly including those overseeing Netanyahu’s corruption trial. Critics contend the overhaul would destroy Israel’s system of checks and balances and do lasting damage to its democracy. 
  • DeSantis has developed a reputation in the United States as a hard-line conservative who opposed many coronavirus restrictions, passed restrictions on school discussion of gender and sexual orientation and sought to punish Disney after it opposed the legislation. (Disney is now suing DeSantis.) Thursday’s visit could help distinguish DeSantis in a GOP field staunchly supportive of Israel, as he addresses a crowd filled with American conservative donors. 
  • “It’s a very smart decision for an early trip,” said Elliott Abrams, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who worked in the presidential administrations of Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Donald Trump. He noted that Trump thrilled many Jewish Republicans with his approach to Israel as president but also said many are looking beyond him for 2024. 
  • Trump, who is running for president again and polls well ahead of his rivals, took Israel’s side in decades-long thorny disputes over territory. He moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem after many years of unfulfilled GOP promises, and recognized the contested Golan Heights region as Israel’s.

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