DeSantis heading to Israel ahead of likely 2024 bid

His trip, however, comes in the wake of ongoing turmoil in Israel over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans for a judicial overhaul. Netanyahu announced a delay in those plans on Monday following a wave of protests and worker strikes. The unrest caused airlines to ground flights and businesses closed their doors.

The visit to Israel will come a few months after he met face-to-face in Tallahassee with Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., along with Yousef Al Otaiba, the ambassador from the United Arab Emirates and Maor Elbaz-Starinsky, the consul general of Israel in Miami.

The release about DeSantis’ visit said he will speak about the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship before a group of roughly 400 participants, including 120 U.S. Jewish philanthropists.

“At a time of unnecessarily strained relations between Jerusalem and Washington, Florida serves as a bridge between the American and Israeli people,” DeSantis said in a statement.

The governor’s decision to make a speech in Israel is sure to garner outsized attention given his rising prominence among Republicans and conservatives.

DeSantis’ positions on foreign policy have begun to draw more attention as his likely campaign for president become more likely. His statement that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a “territorial dispute” drew scorn from other Republicans, including Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio.

After those remarks were distributed on Fox News, DeSantis called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” in a subsequent interview.