DeSantis signs legislation to fight antisemitism at Celebrate the Faces conference

Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis signed an anti-hate bill in Jerusalem on Thursday that would strengthen his state’s ability to fight antisemitism.

“We are doing what we can do in Florida to enhance the ability to hold people accountable when that really crosses the line into threatening conduct,” he said at a news conference on the sidelines of the Face of Israel Conference sponsored by The Jerusalem Post and Museum of Tolerance.

“We are fighting back,” the Republican governor said, as he highlighted his state’s strong stance in defense of Jews and Israel both in the press event and in his speech to the conference.

“In Florida, we treat antisemitism the same way we treat racism,” DeSantis said. ”If it’s not appropriate to attack someone on the basis of their race, which it is not, it should also not be okay to engage in antisemitic tropes.

Free speech does not mean that "one has the right to threaten people. You do not have a right to harass people,  particularly on the basis of someone’s affiliation,” DeSantis said.

This bill will give lawmakers more tools to combat those who target people who wear skullcaps or who make use of the Nazi swastika symbol to harass people, DeSantis said.

It is just one step the state has taken, he said, as he outlined other initiatives.

“We have stood on the side of combating antisemitism” providing millions of dollars for security in Jewish day schools, DeSantis said.

“We understand there’s threats and we’re not going to let the bad guys win when it comes to our schools,” DeSantis said. He emphasized that Florida has led the nation when it comes to education standards for teaching the Holocaust and has funded “millions of dollars for Holocaust museums.”

“People who forget that history are doomed to repeat it, when we say never again, we mean never again,” he said.

Florida has also shown its support for Jewish education by providing funds to help parents send their children to Day Schools, he said.

DeSantis also spoke of how important it was to halt antisemitism that targets the state of Israel.

"Those who reject Israel's right to exist is antisemitic" - DeSantis

“We must reject those who reject Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, that is antisemitism,” DeSantis said.

He focused specifically on the UN’s disproportionate focus on Israel and Florida’s strong opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement.

“Since 2015, the UN has passed 125 condemnatory resolutions against Israel, but only 55 such resolutions for the entire rest of the world,” DeSantis said.

“It’s fine to criticize the policy of any government,” DeSantis said, “but when your focus is only on one Jewish state, and, you hold them up to a different standard than you hold up every other country in the world and … when you work to excuse bad conduct from so many rogue regimes throughout the rest of the world... that is antisemitism,” DeSantis said.

Florida has passed legislation against BDS, said DeSantis, noting that the movement is “DOA” (Dead on Arrival) in his state. It was a stand that predated his arrival in office, DeSantis said.

While in Israel, DeSantis also announced the opening of a second direct flight route to Florida and signed a joint declaration with the Israel Innovation Authority and the Israel Chamber of Commerce, with a special focus on the health industry.

He announced a joint venture between El Al and the Avenger Flight Group in Fort Lauderdale for a state-of-the-art flight school.

Reuters contributed to this report.