Florida Governor, Cabinet Hold 'Ceremonial' Meeting In Israel

JERUSALEM — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis conducted a "ceremonial" Cabinet meeting at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem Wednesday morning despite a legal challenge and what appeared to be a technical glitch in connecting to a telephone conferencing system that allowed the meeting to be heard back in the Sunshine State.

"Israel stands as a very tiny, but very important outpost of freedom, who shares the values that we also share in the state of Florida," DeSantis said at the outset of the meeting, which lasted about an hour.

The meeting was organized as part of a trade mission DeSantis is leading with a delegation of nearly 100 business leaders, lawmakers, state university officials and others.

Afterward, DeSantis signed an anti-Semitism bill passed unanimously by the Florida legislature. The Israeli American Coalition for Action called the bill "groundbreaking," saying it codifies a uniform definition of anti-Semitism while regulating the public educational system by mandating that anti-Semitic crime and discrimination be treated the same as incidents motivated by racism.

“Recognizing the sharp increase in anti-Semitic activity, our approach was to pursue legislation that delivers a practical regulatory response,” explained IAC for Action Chairman Shawn Evenhaim. “The signing of this law goes far beyond simply showing symbolic support for the plight of the Jewish community."

Florida Cabinet members heard from Miriam Fuld, the wife of Israeli-American Ari Fuld, who was stabbed last year in a terror attack outside a shopping mall. He later died from his injuries.

"Despite his wounds, Ari pursued his assailant and stopped him from attacking employees in the mall and probably many others," DeSantis said. "His heroism was recognized when he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor which is Israel's highest award for bravery."

The governor and the independently elected Cabinet, who jointly oversee several state agencies, also heard from an emergency management official and a water desalination expert, topics that are relevant to Floridians accustomed to facing hurricanes and the associated problem of making sure there is safe drinking water available for the state's more than 21 million residents and agricultural users.

"I take it Hamas hasn't started desalinating anything down there," DeSantis quipped at one point.

The members of the Florida Cabinet who attended the meeting were Attorney General Ashley Moody, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried.

"Twenty-five years ago last month was my first trip to Israel. It was after bearing witness to the atrocities that happened during the Holocaust," said Fried, who is Florida's first Jewish-American woman to serve on the Cabinet. "The lasting impacts of that trip still impact me today because at that trip I realized that I have a moral obligation to stand up for injustice, to fight for what is wrong in society and to be that voice for those who have no voice."

Moody praised DeSantis for holding the Cabinet meeting and trade mission in Israel.

"We have all been meeting throughout this week with individuals in the state of Israel related to what we do on a daily basis back in Florida," she said. "Specifically related to security, I have personally visited with the former president of the Supreme County here in Jerusalem. I can tell you Jerusalem and the state of Israel stand as a beacon of democracy in this part of the world."

It was at that point during the meeting that the conferencing system kicked in around 8:43 a.m. (eastern). Without missing a beat, Moody noted to laughter: "And they have excelled in technology in ways that we are learning from on a daily basis."

The event was the subject of a court challenge by a First Amendment group and several news organizations, who argued that the meeting was a violation of Florida's Sunshine Law, which requires state Cabinet meetings to be open to the public.

The challenge sought an order to stop the meeting, but alternatively to have the meeting declared a violation of state law and to void any actions taken during the gathering.

A judge in Florida denied an emergency motion from the First Amendment Foundation. The judge said he couldn't stop the meeting because attorneys for DeSantis and Cabinet officials had not been served with court papers.

"One of the reasons I wanted folks to come here is to capitalize on some of these opportunities, particularly in the technology and research space," the governor said. "You have a very small country, very difficult to defend although they manage to do it well. And yet per capita, the innovation is probably more than anywhere in the world, probably by far."

In Tallahassee, Floridians were able to listen to the meeting on the lower level of the capitol complex and through The Florida Channel though the audio at times was difficult to understand.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.