DeSantis, Other Republicans Say U.S. Should Not Accept Gaza Refugees

As the war between Israel and Hamas escalates, Florida governor Ron DeSantis and some Republican senators said the U.S. should not accept Gaza refugees after some Democrats called on the country to do so.

The Israeli military on Friday ordered roughly 1.1 million Palestinians, or about half of the Gaza Strip’s population, to evacuate the northern region of Gaza within 24 hours, forcing them to migrate south. Since then, Republicans have expressed concerns about the displaced refugees fleeing to the U.S. in hopes of escaping the regional conflict.

“We cannot accept people from Gaza into this country as refugees. I am not going to do that,” DeSantis said at a presidential campaign event in Iowa. “If you look at how [people in Gaza] behave, not all of them are Hamas, but they are all anti-Semitic. None of them believe in Israel’s right to exist.”