As RedState previously reported, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Thursday that he had signed an executive order reaffirming his previously stated support for Israel, and which also cleared the way for rescue flights for Floridians trapped in Israel as well as deliveries of supplies to the country.
In it, DeSantis declared that "a state of emergency exists in the State of Florida" over the fact that Jewish people at home and abroad were under threat from Hamas and Hamas sympathizers, and wanted to come home but couldn't.
"To the many Floridians who are stuck in Israel, trying to get home — help is on the way," DeSantis tweeted at the time.
Among those who scoffed at DeSantis' announcement was purported Republican and disgraced former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who tweeted out the following response:
"You’re a governor. You have no power here <eye roll>"
Three days later, however, DeSantis shared a video of himself in Florida standing in front of a plane full of passengers from Israel that had landed that evening at Tampa Airport:
"We're here at Tampa Airport. We are having our first flight of people being rescued from Israel. And it's landed, over 260 people that wanted to get back to the United States and couldn't do it. There was a devoid of leadership so we stepped up and led. We're happy to be able to deliver (on) that. So we're getting ready to welcome them back to the United States of America."
Watch:
We are getting ready to welcome hundreds of people who were stuck in Israel back to the United States of America. pic.twitter.com/4gYyDI09DK
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 16, 2023
The flights are being billed by some Florida-based reporters like Marc Caputo as part of "DeSantis Airlines," which actually has kind of a nice ring to it:
"Update: a source tells me that 300 Americans have been flown out of Tel Aviv on “DeSantis Airlines” and they’re scheduled to arrive tonight at Tampa International Airport, where the governor & FL First Lady will meet them as they step off the plane."
A source told Caputo that 75% of the 270 Americans on board the flight were from Florida.
The group that rescued the stranded Americans was Project Dynamo, which lists itself on Twitter as "A coalition of veterans and civilians, committed to the evacuation of Americans. We are a 501c3 non-profit organization, with no government funding."
The man who made it happen!
— Unconventional Patriot🇺🇸♠️🦅 (@jso_patriot) October 16, 2023
A plane with 270 American passengers, including 91 kids, flew in from Israel to the United States and was greeted by Governor DeSantis and his family.#DeSantis2024 #DeSantisDelivers @GovRonDeSantis @JayCollinsFL pic.twitter.com/NC14YRVnf6
Project DYNAMO 🤝 @GovRonDeSantis
— Project Dynamo Official (@Project_Dynamo1) October 16, 2023
We safely evacuated 270 Americans out of the Israel war-zones and back to the U.S. last night thanks to the help from our Governor! Massive shoutout to him and the team. https://t.co/lYmgsjm7GZ
Well done, guys. Well done.
As for Adam Kinzinger, he has yet to correct himself as of this writing - some 16 hours after news of the arriving flight broke. Bless his heart. Must be hard being wrong all the time.
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