Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was stormed on stage by a duo of screaming protesters while delivering a speech in New Hampshire on Friday night.
DeSantis, widely viewed as a likely Republican challenger to former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential primary, was interrupted while delivering a speech at a New Hampshire Republican Party event in Manchester.
A 35-second video clip shared to Twitter by former federal prosector Ron Filipkowski shows the governor being forced to briefly pause when two women approach the lectern and shout “Jews against DeSantis.”
“If you looked at governor races, president races, 2010, ’12, ’14, ’16, ’18 … Yeah, thank you,” DeSantis says in the video, becoming distracted as he notices the women approaching him. “Um …”
Scott Eisen
Security is then seen rushing the stage and leading the women away while they shout “Jews against DeSantis” and attempt to unfurl a banner. DeSantis raises his hands and shrugs.
“You’ve got to have a little spice in the speech, right?” DeSantis says as the protesters are taken away from the stage, prompting cheers from the crowd. “I mean, you’ve got to have a little fun.”
“Why you’d want to pay the ticket to get in just to do that, I don’t know,” he adds. “But different strokes for different folks.”
According to the left-wing pro-Palestinian Jewish activist group IfNotNow, the protesters were progressive Jews who were holding a banner that read “Ron DeSantis: Loves Israel, Hates Jews” in protest of his planned trip to Israel.
DeSantis is set to deliver a keynote address about “the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship” at a museum in Jerusalem on April 27.
The governor announced his trip late last month, less than a week after the Anti-Defamation League said that antisemitism in Florida had reached an “all-time high.”
“In the next few weeks, DeSantis will be traveling to Israel, where he will speak in Jerusalem,” IfNotNow member Ari Jahiel said in a statement emailed to Newsweek.
“At the same time, we’ve seen DeSantis ban books that educate on the history of antisemitism and the Holocaust,” Jahiel added. “I’m outraged that DeSantis is using support for Israel to cover up his own antisemitism.”
DeSantis has previously faced accusations of acting slowly to condemn antisemitism in Florida, including neo-Nazi demonstrations and other hate incidents across the state.
DeSantis has touted himself “the most pro-Israel governor in America,” praising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and accusing Palestinian Arabs of causing the conflict in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The governor has faced criticism this week for traveling and delivering speeches at Republican events across the country, possibly in anticipation of a presidential run, while his state deals with extreme rainfall that has flooded some areas.
Meanwhile, Trump on Friday spent part of his speech at a National Rifle Association meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, bashing DeSantis as “DeSanctus” while boasting of his lead in GOP primary polls, despite the governor not having officially announced his candidacy.
Newsweek has reached out via email to the office of DeSantis for comment.
