Ron DeSantis Loses Voter in Tense Confrontation Over His Condemnation of Palestinians
Oct. 13 2023, Published 5:00 p.m. ET
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis clashed with a voter during a heated confrontation at a campaign event in New Hampshire, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The exchange unfolded when the local businessman asked the Republican presidential candidate about atrocities in Gaza by Israeli Defense Forces after the lawmaker criticized Palestinians for supporting Hamas following unverified reports of the militant group beheading Israeli babies.
Following Hamas' surprise attack on Israel, unverified reports surfaced that Israeli children were beheaded by the militants. These reports were even repeated by President Joe Biden. who claimed he saw photos of the vile act, though the statement was eventually walked back by the White House.
After DeSantis criticized Palestinians over the alleged beheadings, local ski shop owner Ron Lahout, an Arab-American whose identity was confirmed by the New York Times, asked the governor "about the annihilation and the decapitation of all the Palestinians in Gaza right now."
"They are not decapitating babies’ heads," DeSantis scoffed at the question. "They are not intentionally doing that."
Lahout was ready to counter and quickly reminded DeSantis of ongoing attacks by the IDF in densely populated Gaza. "They are blowing up entire residential buildings," he stated.
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DeSantis met Lahout's reply with aggression as he argued that "Hamas wants them to be human shields," in reference to Palestinians living in Gaza. He also noted that Israel warned Gaza to evacuate, though the 2.2 million residents had few options for escape due to Israel's air, land, and sea blockades.
"How many other armed forces give warnings to get out?" DeSantis asked the local man, who said he worked in Gaza refugee camps in the '80s and did not "condone the killing of any innocent civilians."
Lahout continued to defend his position of condemning Israel and Hamas for killing innocents.
"And I don’t condone what Hamas did in the kibbutzes," the ski shop owner said. "But Israel is doing the exact same thing with Benjamin Netanyahu, who is a radical, right-wing, crazy person. And I see hundreds of Palestinian families that are dead, and they have nowhere to go because they can’t leave Gaza because no one’s opening their borders."
In a final blow, DeSantis asked, "Why aren’t these Arab countries willing to absorb some of the Palestinian Arabs?"
Lahout appeared to have had enough of the governor's responses. He walked out of the venue as he told DeSantis, "You had my vote, but you don’t now."