Ron DeSantis - Israhell's governor in Florida

[yankeedoodle]

From Phil Giraldi:
America's Most Pro-Israel Governor: Ron DeSantis Will Send More Florida Money to Israel
https://ahtribune.com/us/israelgate/3152-ron-desantis-americas-most-pro-israel-governor.html

Ron DeSantis, Florida's new governor, should be really proud of himself. He recently recalled that when he ran for governor "...[he] promised to be the most pro-Israel governor in America and that the first delegation [he] would lead would be to the state of Israel." When he confirmed that he would be taking his entire cabinet with him as part of a 75-person delegation scheduled to leave for Israel on May 25th, he boasted that "Today I'm pleased to report that I'm keeping that promise. Our delegation will bring business, academic and political leaders to help strengthen the bond between Florida and Israel." DeSantis has promised to hold a meeting of his Cabinet in the American Embassy in Jerusalem during his visit, the first time that such a meeting has ever been held by a state government on foreign soil. During the meeting he will ostentatiously sign a legislative bill "combating anti-Semitism."

DeSantis has been playing the Israel and anti-Semitism cards throughout his political career. Last year, as a Congressman running for governor, he attacked his opponent Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum during their gubernatorial race as not being a "friend of Israel." He based his charge on reports that Gillum had received support from the Dream Defenders, a group favoring Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, as well as once having given a speech welcoming members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to his city. DeSantis claimed in a video clip that "I can find anti-Semites around him, but it's almost like 'we don't want to discuss that.'"

As a Congressman, DeSantis sponsored in 2013 the Palestinian Accountability Act which called for the withholding of U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority until it recognizes Israel as a Jewish state. In 2017, he co-founded the Congressional Israel Victory Caucus, saying "Israel is our strongest ally in the Middle East, as we share common national interests and possess similar national values. Israel is not the problem in the Middle East; it is the solution to many of the problems that bedevil the region. American policy must ensure that Israel emerges victorious against those who deny or threaten her existence." Earlier this year, DeSantis drafted a proposal calling on the U.S. to recognize Syria's Golan Heights as an 'integral part' of the State of Israel.

DeSantis boasted about his presence in Jerusalem when the U.S. Embassy was moved to that city one year ago and has promised that on his upcoming trip he will visit Israel's illegal settlements on the West Bank, which he refers to by the preferred Israeli usage as "Judea and Samaria." He has threatened critics that "If you boycott Israel, the state of Florida will boycott you" and threatened to "sanction" the holiday rental company Airbnb when it refused to offer properties located in the illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank. DeSantis was also the driving force behind recently enacted legislation in his state to punish BDS supporters. The legislation is regarded as the most extreme among U.S. states, including explicit equation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. Another bill pending in Florida will enable citizens to sue teachers or government employees who in any way criticize Israel.

DeSantis, a former U.S. Navy lawyer, has demonstrated that he reveres Israel even more than his former comrades in arms. In his congressional district there were a number of survivors of the U.S.S. Liberty, which was attacked in international waters by Israel on June 8, 1967, killing 34 crewmen and injuring 171 more. They report that DeSantis has been completely unsympathetic to their requests that a commission of inquiry finally be convened to determine what actually happened on that day.

Regarding the upcoming visit, a local Florida radio station conducted an interview with Israeli Consul General in Miami Lior Haiat, who emphasized the economic benefits to be derived from the strong bilateral relationship, who said "The fact that the huge delegation is going from Florida to Israel is just a symbol that the outcome of this delegation will be seen in the relationship between Israel and Florida for years to come. Because this is just the beginning. We're signing over 10 memorandums of understandings and agreements between Israeli companies and universities and the Floridian companies and universities. This is a huge bridge that Gov. DeSantis is building. We are happy to be part of it."

Consul General Haiat also noted that "There is a lot of new technology based in Israel that is very relevant to Florida both on the red tide and algae, and we are already connecting Israeli companies with local authorities in able to find what is the most useful technology for that part.  But it's also for the greening of oranges. This is a huge problem here. I think that the connection between Israel and Florida has a lot of potential since Israel has a lot of agricultural technology based on knowledge, and Florida has a huge sector of agriculture that can use that technology."

The six days De Santis led boondoggle in Israel is funded by taxpayers. A public records request filed by a local newspaper seeking information on how much the trip would cost has not been responded to by the governor's office. And the idea that the state of Florida and its citizens will benefit materially from the trip is largely an illusion. This mixing of politics and business interests is essentially corrupt and inevitably leads to abuses that do not serve the public interest, particularly as American citizens who stand to benefit both, directly and indirectly, are quite openly promoting the interests of a foreign nation.

The Florida trip is a perfect example of how Israel's friends go about setting up mechanisms that will benefit the Jewish state. Israel will be selling its products and services to Florida, enabled by a government in place that is promoting the process and will steer contracts in its direction. In return, Florida will get little or nothing as Israel is a tiny market and has no particular need of anything that the Sunshine State produces.

All such trade agreements are designed to enrich Israel. The 1985 United States free trade agreement with Israel has benefitted the Jewish state by $144 billion, which is the U.S. deficit on the trade between 1985 and 2015. An interesting example of how this works at the state level and the abuse that it can produce has recently surfaced in Virginia, where a so-called Virginia-Israel Advisory Board (VIAB) has actually been funded by the Commonwealth of Virginia taxpayers to promote and even subsidize Israeli business in the state, business that currently runs an estimated $500 million per annum in favor of Israel. Grant Smith's Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRMEP) has done considerable digging into the affairs of VIAB, which was ostensibly "created to foster closer economic integration between the United States and Israel while supporting the Israeli government's policy agenda" with a charter defining its role as "advis[ing] the Governor on ways to improve economic and cultural links between the Commonwealth and the State of Israel, with a focus on the areas of commerce and trade, art and education, and general government." Smith has observed that "VIAB is a pilot for how Israel can quietly obtain taxpayer funding and official status for networked entities that advance Israel from within key state governments."

Florida does not yet have an equivalent of Virginia's VIAB, but it probably does not need one as the pandering to Israel will be run right out of the governor's office. So if you want to create jobs and exports for a foreign country at a cost to your own citizens, by all means, follow the DeSantis Florida model and send an expensive trade mission over to Jerusalem to sing the praises of Benjamin Netanyahu and his band of war criminals while also promoting "buy Israel." But just maybe it would be a better idea to stop shilling for a foreign country. Floridians should insist on keeping the travel money here at home where it might actually do some good while also putting a little pressure on DeSantis, who was elected to serve the people of his state, to stop his unseemly boasting about being the "most pro-Israel governor in America."

[yankeedoodle]

'Playing secretary of state': Israel-based meeting of Florida cabinet triggers scandal & suit
https://www.rt.com/usa/460586-governor-desantis-israel-meeting/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his cabinet kicked off controversy after conducting an official meeting on Israeli soil, prompting a flurry of criticism from watchdog groups and constituents alike.

DeSantis and his cabinet met Wednesday at the US Embassy in Jerusalem to proclaim support for the Jewish state and sign a bill prohibiting anti-Semitism in Florida's public schools. DeSantis, who has promised to be the "most pro-Israel governor in America," called the meeting "historic."

https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1133793071890599938

The Florida First Amendment Foundation, joined by four media outlets, however, say the meeting violated state legislation known as the "Sunshine Law," which requires government meetings to be open to the public.

"Holding a meeting at this distance in such a facility violates the constitutional and statutory rights of Florida citizens (and the news media) to personally observe the workings of, and for the public to offer comment to, their state's highest officials," the organizations wrote in a complaint filed earlier this week.

Though state officials assured the public the meeting would be "ceremonial" in nature, and would be livestreamed on Florida public television, critics argued it did not qualify as an open proceeding.

"There are legitimate concerns regarding the constitutionality of holding a Cabinet meeting that Floridians cannot attend," First Amendment Foundation president Barbara Petersen said in a statement.

The initial complaint was dismissed by a Florida judge on Tuesday, but the governor's office, through a spokesperson, said it intended to comply with Florida law and defend against the allegation. The spokesperson declined to comment further on "pending litigation."

Some of the governor's constituents chimed in on social media, many unhappy that state resources were used on the trip.

"Pretending to play secretary of state will do nothing for you in the mind of your constituents," wrote one Floridian. "Get back home and do something for your citizens."

Another resident said the state did not need "public funds going towards #DeSantisIllegalVacation in a state accused of apartheid," adding "our resources need to STAY in FL."

The DeSantis trip isn't the only recent collision of US and Israeli politics. In late April, after a months-long legal battle, a Texas judge struck down legislation that banned Texas state employees from engaging in boycotts of Israeli products, arguing the measure sought to "manipulate debate through coercion rather than persuasion."

The bill was one among several introduced this year to combat the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in the US, an organized effort to rein in Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.

[yankeedoodle]

https://twitter.com/RonDeSantisFL/status/1105462938889056256

[yankeedoodle]

As Jewish Republicans gather, Ron DeSantis is a star attraction while Donald Trump Zooms in
https://www.jta.org/2022/11/18/politics/as-jewish-republicans-gather-ron-desantis-is-a-star-attraction-while-donald-trump-zooms-in

Donald Trump changed his mind and is ready to speak to the Republican Jewish Coalition. What's not as clear is how ready Jewish Republicans are to hear from him.

As of last week, the group said Trump had cited an undefined "conflict" in turning down an invitation to address its annual convening in Las Vegas. But that was before he announced his bid for another shot at the presidency on Tuesday, making him the first and so far the only nominee to formally do so, and on Thursday the organization said Trump would speak via satellite.

The star of the conference appears to be Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has a prime speaking slot, as opposed to Trump's less auspicious slot. One influential conference-goer who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order not to be attached to a presidential nominee too early in the process said DeSantis was his favorite going into the weekend. DeSantis, he said, embraced Trump's policies, but more effectively and with "discipline."

The conference is taking place, as it has for years, in the Venetian casino resort, until recently owned by Miriam Adelson, the widow of Sheldon Adelson, who was until he died in 2021 a Republican kingmaker; his endorsement of Trump in May 2016 was seen as a sign that the entire GOP was now embracing the one-time outsider.

The conference is an opportunity for candidates to meet with donors who could make or break their campaigns. As it got underway this week, delegates wandered the halls among the slot machines and crap games reconnecting and checking in; former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was seen rolling his carry-on bag through the lobby.

Organizers said they expected at least 850 delegates throughout the event (the Saturday night dinner usually attracts more), a bigger number than last year, when travel was still depressed because of the pandemic and there were still three years before the next presidential election.

RJC conferences are often the first stop for likely contenders ahead of presidential election years, which is why Trump made personal appearances in 2015 and again in 2019. This conference is drawing national attention; organizers said they had about 100 RSVPs from the media.

Trump's speaking slot, crammed in during a crowded Saturday-morning schedule, and his remote participation are signals that relations between Trump and the signature Republican Jewish group, which have blown hot and cold, are in a cooling-off stage. (The only other speaker phoning it in is Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, who has a government to form in a distant land.)

Trump's lies about the 2020 election, which he lost to President Joe Biden, and his insistence that his endorsees echo the lies, are seen as a drag on the GOP. Republicans are now openly criticizing him after the Nov. 8 midterms, in which they expected to win the U.S. House of Representatives by a broad margin and retake the Senate, fell flat. Republicans barely retook the House, and the Senate remains in Democratic hands.

DeSantis stood out in those elections for wiping out the Democratic opposition in his state, on a day Republicans fared much more poorly than expected nationwide, losing a slew of statewide elections they thought would be shoo-ins.

DeSantis has the coveted Saturday night slot, sharing it with Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations. DeSantis is already making inroads among Jewish conservatives, and from the start of his governorship sought to prove his pro-Israel credentials, leading one early Cabinet meeting from Jerusalem. Haley, who has not yet made clear whether she is running in 2024, is a star for right-leaning pro-Israel groups for helping to shepherd through changes in U.S. and U.N. policy that marginalized Palestinians.

Trump is squeezed among 12 speakers on Saturday morning, a time when folks are expected to keep it short and sweet. Joining him are a number of speakers either not in contention for the presidency — Jewish Republican congressmen David Kustoff of Tennessee, Max Miller of Ohio and George Santos of New York — or long-shots such as South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and also-rans whom Trump annihilated in 2016, including Christie and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. (Miller and Santos are freshman Trump endorsees who have embraced Trump's election denialism; Santos was at the Jan. 6 protests.)

Opening the conference Friday night are four speakers, three of whom have notably separated themselves from Trump: former Vice President Mike Pence, who has said this week that he and Trump no longer speak and that he remains angry at the president for not stopping the angry mob that called for Pence's death during the deadly Jan. 6, 2001 insurrection; Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a consistent opponent of Trump since 2015; and Mike Pompeo, Trump's secretary of state who has in recent days said Trump's victim act is getting old. All three are seen as presidential contenders.

The conference is open to the public on Friday and Saturday, But it really started earlier in the week with smaller private meetings between the major Jewish Republican donors and others in the party. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who has also distanced himself from Trump, was to have spoken privately with RJC bigwigs on Thursday night, but canceled at the last minute because of a deadly shooting at the University of Virginia.

Trump remains popular in some Jewish conservative circles; he was honored by the Zionist Organization of America earlier this month — an event that he attended in person. Trump executed historic changes in Israel policy, among other things, moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, dropping a commitment to a two-state outcome and quitting the Iran nuclear deal. Biden is keeping the embassy in Jerusalem, but hopes to restore two-state outcome ambitions and reenter the Iran deal.

[yankeedoodle]

RON DESANTIS, ISRAEL LOBBY MAN
https://nwobroadcastcorp.wordpress.com/2023/01/10/ron-desantis-israel-lobby-man/

"As soon as I take the oath of office, that very day, we'll have the most pro-Israel governor in the country."Ron DeSantis

DiSantis does the Wailing Wall

DeSantis attended both Yale and Harvard. . Yale and Harvard are the two most preferred schools for the Central Intelligence Agency's recruitment efforts. So although there is no proof that DiSantis is CIA , there is a good chance he might just be

DeSantis championed and signed a bill that essentially bans criticism of Israel.

2019's HB 741 bans any speech in the public school systems of Florida deemed to be "making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations" about Jews or "the power of Jews as a collective," such as "the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions."

HB 741 also bans "applying a double standard to Israel by requiring behavior of Israel that is not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation, or focusing peace or human rights investigations only on Israel."

Powerful pro-Israel lobbying organizations often push similar measures to shut down criticism of Israel. Regardless of the political implications of the nation's reputation in America and across the world, Florida's law that narrowly identifies and essentially criminalizes specific political speech in public places is nakedly unconstitutional. There's no reason to think this law has ever been enforced on any university campus, or it would almost instantly be overthrown by courts that recognize its violations of the First Amendment.

DeSantis, who signed the bill in Israel, could conceivably push such a federal speech code as President if elected. This would open a range of new possibilities for those who would use the law DeSantis already enacted to further censor criticism of Israel The Disney vs. DeSantis headlines are just noise. It's unclear whether the state of Florida can legally take away Disney's special protections. What will likely ensue is an costly court battle (that the taxpayers will pay for), and even if Disney does lose its special status, it can just reapply for it in July of next year. Its possible this is not a real conflict at all. Disney gave the DeSantis campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars.



Gov. Ron DeSantis has attacked Disney as a "woke" company that has exerted "inappropriate influence" in Florida, but until recently he was happy to accept the company's campaign contributions and doesn't appear eager to give them back.

DeSantis' political committee received three contributions from Disney totaling $100,000 and a $6,809 in-kind contribution for "food and beverage," likely catering for a fundraiser or some other campaign event. Disney gave DeSantis $50,000 in 2019 and $50,000 in 2021.

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Just last year, Disney had a direct line to DeSantis's administration. When DeSantis and co. proposed the Stop the Censorship of Floridians by Big Tech, a bill that targeted companies like Facebook, Twitter, but also Disney+, a special amended was proposed that carved out an exemption for the Walt Disney Company. It was revealed Disney had a direct line to the DeSantis administration and wrote the amendment. Nor is Disney on the morally just side of marginalized people. Disney (owner of Marvel Studios) has no morals

Floridas Kosher Nostra man has proved his fealty to Israel as follows

During his first year in office, Governor DeSantis led a trade mission to Israel where he held the first-ever meeting of the Florida Cabinet in Jerusalem at the new embassy and signed memorandums of understanding with many innovative Israel technology companies. That trip continues to bear fruit: Just last week Governor DeSantis went to Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee River to highlight a leading Israeli company, BlueGreen Water Technologies, which is working with the state of Florida to combat blue-green algae in the state.

Governor DeSantis has delivered historic funding to protect synagogues, Jewish day schools, and other Jewish institutions from the threat of antisemitic violence. In this year's budget alone he secured $4 million for additional security for Jewish day schools and over $12 million in funding for other Jewish institutions.

Governor DeSantis signed into law House Bill 741 which added religion as a protected class with regard to discrimination against students and employees in Florida's public education system. Encompassing kindergarten through college, this law treats antisemitism the same as racism, and will not be tolerated in Florida

Holy Yahweh shit!!! (If one can say Holy shit in polite company surely one can say Holy Yahweh shit too cant one??) If Governor DeSantis can do so much imagine what President De Santis will do

During his last year at Harvard law, the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG) selected DeSantis for its program. Less than a year after graduating, DeSantis was sent to Guantanamo Bay.More specifically, DeSantis acted as a prosecutor.Any efforts to find out what exactly DeSantis did during his time at GITMO is next to impossible, especially when records are known to mysteriously disappear.

During a May 16, 2016 hearing as chairman of the House Oversight Committee's National Security Subcommittee, he argued against releasing the remaining 80 detainees still at Gitmo, saying they were "hardened and unrepentant" jihadis and releasing them would only "risk harming America's national security...in case they returned to terrorism."

Right after Guantanamo, DeSantis was sent in 2007 to Iraq to act as a senior legal adviser to the Navy SEALs in Fallujah. No details have been released about his time in Iraq or his responsibilities

Addressing Jewish Republicans on Saturday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the West Bank was "not occupied territory" but rather a disputed area that is a historical homeland to Jews, as he talked up his Israel bona fides amid mounting challenges to Donald Trump's control of the party.

DeSantis was a star attraction at this weekend's Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas, where he delivered a 25-minute speech on Saturday night while Trump was relegated to a less desirable time slot and only appeared via video.

The Florida governor told the crowd about a trade mission he'd led to Israel, "the biggest trade mission Florida's ever done."

"We were the first statewide elected officials to do public events in Judea and Samaria," DeSantis said, using the biblical names for the West Bank as favored by right-wing Israelis. "We understand history. We know those are thousands of years of connection to the Jewish people."



Source Times of Israel 20 November 2022 Florida's DeSantis to GOP Jews: 'Judea and Samaria is not occupied, but disputed'

[yankeedoodle]

Americans, Beware What Belies the Smile of Ron DeSantis
https://healthimpactnews.com/2023/americans-beware-what-belies-the-smile-of-ron-desantis/

by Mansoor Adayfi
Writer, artist, activist, and former Guantánamo prisoner

So many military staffers and guards passed through Guantanamo during my 14-year detention that I remember only the kindest, and the cruellest – the ones who seemed to take joy in our misery.

In 2021, just as my memoir – Don't Forget Us Here, Lost and Found at Guantanamo – was about to be published, I was on Twitter and saw a photo of a handsome man in a white navy uniform. It was Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida. I do not remember what the post was about – probably something about him clashing with President Joe Biden over COVID policies. But I remembered his face. It was a face I could never forget. I had seen that face for the first time in Guantanamo, in 2006 – one of the camp's darkest years when the authorities started violently breaking hunger strikes and three of my brothers were found dead in their cages.

After finding a Miami Herald article in which DeSantis bragged about his service at Guantanamo and confirming that my memory is correct, I sent his photo to a group chat of former detainees. Several replied that they too remembered his face from Guantanamo. Some said seeing his face again triggered painful memories of the trauma they suffered during their imprisonment. I understood. Even after spending the previous few years working on my memoir, which meant reliving everything I had been through at Guantanamo, seeing his face again triggered a lot of pain in me too.

When I first saw DeSantis, I was on a hunger strike.

In 2005, almost all prisoners in the camp started participating in a hunger strike to protest against torture, inhumane treatment, and being held indefinitely without even being charged with a crime. By 2006, news about our hunger strike was finally getting out. We were feeling hopeful.

One day, as we continued our strike with the hope that change is just around the corner, a naval judge advocate general (JAG), whom I later learned to be DeSantis, walked the blocks with other new arrivals. He stopped and talked to us, explaining that his job was to ensure that the camp was abiding by the Geneva Conventions and that we were being treated humanely.

I remember him asking why we were still on hunger strike. We told him to look around. Camp Delta was constructed from metal shipping containers, divided into cages with wire mesh. In the summer, the cages were like ovens. In the winter, they were cold and wet. They were loud with huge fans and the echoes of all the men's voices. Then there was the persistent harassment by guards, desecration of Qurans, non-existent medical care, systematic torture, and being completely cut off from the outside world.

We told DeSantis we were on hunger strike because we wanted to know why we were being imprisoned. Because we wanted a fair judicial process to prove our innocence. He took notes. He promised to register our complaints.

A few days later, guards retrieved me from the cage I was in and took me to the recreation yard of the November Block. There, we were greeted by a group of nurses and corpsmen standing next to a metal restraint chair and several cases of liquid nutrient "Ensure". A group of JAG officers and other observers, including Zak, the camp's cultural adviser, were watching the scene through the yard's chain link fence.

I was informed that the US government was determined to break the hunger strike. The doctor in charge, a colonel, told me he did not care if I said I was innocent or protesting mistreatment. He was there for one thing: to make me eat. I refused and was immediately and violently strapped into the chair so tightly that I could not move. A nurse forced a thick tube into my nose and down my throat. My nose bled and the pain was so great that I thought my head would explode. The nurse would not stop. Instead, he began pouring Ensure into a feeder bag attached to the tube.

"Eat!" the nurse yelled. "Eat!"

They poured can after can in the feeder bag until my stomach and throat were so full that Ensure poured back out of my mouth and nose. I thought I was going to drown.

"If you throw up," a corpsman said, "we'll start from the beginning with a new case and fill you up again."

As I tried to break free, I noticed DeSantis's handsome face among the crowd at the other side of the chain link. He was watching me struggle. He was smiling and laughing with other officers as I screamed in pain.

I threw up in their direction. They jumped back, disgusted. I did not care. I was the only one there who had the right to be disgusted.

That force-feeding was inhumane. It was meant to break me and teach me a lesson. It was meant to show me that I was just an animal with no human rights. There is no other way to call it, it was torture.

Because I had thrown up, they fed me another case. This time, they mixed laxatives into the bag. The mixture of Ensure and laxatives completely wrecked my intestines after having no solid foods for more than nine months. They left me restrained in that chair all night, soiled with my own waste and vomit.

The next day they started again. The message was clear: they were not going to stop force-feeding me like that, torturing me, until I ended my hunger strike.

So, I ended my hunger strike. All but a few of us did. A brother who saw me brought back to my cage said I was as swollen as a dead body found in the water.

Still, we kept protesting, especially against guards desecrating the Quran. We started planning for another hunger strike. In June, three men on my block, Yassir, Mana'a, and Ali, were found hanging in their cages, their hands and feet tied, pieces of cloth shoved down their throats. The camp administration called the deaths "suicides" and "asymmetrical warfare". No one believed it.

I was eventually sent to solitary confinement, permitted to wear only shorts or a suicide smock – a heavy, disgusting-smelling tube of cloth too thick to roll into a noose. Along with the others in the solitary block, I was regularly pepper-sprayed, beaten during cell searches, and subjected to cavity searches worse than rape.

I wrote about all this in my memoir. I did not mention DeSantis was there, witnessing the torture, because I did not know who he was when I was writing.

As far as I know, DeSantis did not order my hunger strike to be violently broken or wrote the policies that allowed it to happen. He was just a guy who claimed he was there to help us and then just watched while we were being tortured. He did not torture me, but he sure seemed to take joy from it.

Today, the violence my brothers and I endured in 2006, and its connection to DeSantis, are in the news again, not because the Florida governor belatedly decided to do the right thing and talk against it, but because he might run for president in 2024.

In fact, DeSantis still calls Guantanamo a "terrorist detention facility", even though back in 2006, the year he was there, an analysis of official documents found that the great majority of the Guantanamo prisoners were innocent men, imprisoned only because of mistaken identity or because they had been sold to the US for bounty money. Regardless of these facts, DeSantis advocated keeping Guantanamo open in his 2016 testimony before the Subcommittee on National Security, in which he claimed that all detainees were "hardened and unrepentant terrorist[s)", whose release "risks harming America's national security".

At the time of DeSantis's speech, 80 prisoners remained at Guantanamo. I was one of them. Of the 779 men held at Guantanamo since it opened in 2002, only 12 have been charged with crimes. Only two have been convicted. I wonder who DeSantis was talking about. He was there. He saw who we were.

I was born in Yemen. In my culture, a man is only as good as his word. DeSantis is clearly bending the truth to fit his preferred narrative. Maybe he is not a man worthy of leading Florida, let alone the United States.

My advice to Americans: watch out. Do you want as president someone who tries to consolidate his power by creating an environment of fear? Someone who profits from the misery and pain of others? Someone who does not hesitate to bend to truth to further his political goals?

Americans beware of DeSantis, and what belies his handsome smile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFonj6o0fTI

[yankeedoodle]

Visiting Jerusalem, Ron DeSantis tries out his Jewish stump speech
https://www.jta.org/2023/04/27/politics/visiting-jerusalem-ron-desantis-tries-out-his-jewish-stump-speech

Ron DeSantis may not have declared that he's running for president yet, but his anticipated campaign was on full display Thursday at a conference in Jerusalem, where he ran down a laundry list of issues relevant to Israel and American Jews.

Most of the Florida governor's remarks reflected what has become Republican orthodoxy in the post-Donald Trump era: He supports Israeli West Bank settlements as well as keeping Jerusalem under full Israeli control. He wants the United States to be more aggressive toward Iran's nuclear program. He vehemently opposes the movement to boycott Israel.

And he declined to take a position on the Israeli government's effort to sap the Israeli Supreme Court of much of its power — which President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has repeatedly criticized as a danger to Israeli democracy.

"We must also, in America, respect Israel's right to make its own decisions about its own governance," he said. "You're a smart country. You figure it out. It shouldn't be for us to butt into these important issues."

He also pushed back at claims that his legislation has led to the banning of Holocaust books in his state, calling them "fake narratives" (though multiple Holocaust books have been pulled from schools). And, at a press conference, he signed a bill that aims to penalize antisemitic harassment. He also touted a new law that gives vouchers worth thousands of dollars to parents who send their children to private schools, something Orthodox advocates have cheered.

"We've really seen a historic migration of American Jews and Israeli Americans moving to southern Florida," he said. "It's really, really boomed, and I think Florida's policies have really reinforced that."

DeSantis, who landed in Israel yesterday, was the keynote speaker at a conference on Thursday hosted by the Jerusalem Post at the Museum of Tolerance here. He received multiple standing ovations and cheers throughout the morning. At a press conference after his speech, some of his supporters sat among the journalists and clapped at his responses.

Israel is the latest on a four-stop international trip by DeSantis, who is expected to announce later this year that he will challenge former President Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. On the trip, he is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and other officials. His trip also includes stops in Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

"If there's any announcements, those will come at the appropriate time," he said in response to a question about his potential candidacy.

In his speech, DeSantis described his past support for Israel, including advocating for the 2018 move of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and, in 2019, holding a Florida cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. He also told the crowd that he baptized his children with water from the Sea of Galilee and said he put a note in the Western Wall asking God to protect Florida from hurricane season.

An affinity for the Bible also played a role in DeSantis' position on the West Bank, which he called "disputed" rather than "occupied." He referred to the territory by the term "Judea and Samaria," which is the Israeli government's standard term for the area and also emphasizes its place in the Bible. He spoke of visits to the northern West Bank settlement of Ariel, as well as to the City of David, a Jewish neighborhood and archaeological site in eastern Jerusalem.

"We visited the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria," he said during his speech regarding a previous trip. Later, at the press conference, he said, "Those are the most historic Jewish lands there are, going back thousands and thousands of years."

He also came out staunchly in favor of continued Israeli control of eastern Jerusalem, claiming that it is the best way to ensure religious freedom in the city. Palestinians aspire for the city's eastern area to be the capital of a future Palestinian state.

"With Israeli sovereignty over the city of Jerusalem, people have the ability to practice their religion freely," he said. "They have the ability to visit their sites freely. That would just actually not be true if that were in other hands."

Although his Israel policies dovetail with those of Trump, and even though Trump's Israel ambassador, David Friedman, was at the conference, DeSantis avoided saying the former president's name in his speech, instead referring to "the previous administration." He did say Trump's name twice during the press conference.

Following his speech, DeSantis announced partnerships with Israeli firms to develop tech products, and portrayed his state as an inviting home for Jews. He said the state had invested millions of dollars into synagogue security as well as Holocaust education. And he signed a bill that bans projecting threatening images on buildings without permission, as well as littering with the intent to intimidate.

Florida has seen an uptick recently in white supremacist activity. The Goyim Defense League, a far-right antisemitic group, relocated there last year. In October, several public spaces in Jacksonville displayed messages promoting the antisemitic ideas of rapper Kanye West. Neo-Nazis intimidated attendees at an Orlando-area Chabad center in February, and last week, police arrested a man for a March attack on a different Florida Chabad center.

"This is going to be able to provide more tools to be able to combat antisemitic activity," DeSantis said. ״If you have a synagogue and someone shines a swastika-like image on that, they have a right to do the image for themselves, but putting it on someone else's property, they're defining that in this bill as a trespass."

The signing of that bill, and DeSantis' contention that he supports Holocaust education, comes as legislation he signed has enabled parents in the state to pursue bans of Holocaust literature. A South Florida school district library removed a Holocaust-themed novel by Jodi Picoult in March, and this month, a high school in the state removed a graphic novel adaptation of Anne Frank's diary from its shelves. (Other Jewish books, including ones about Purim and Shabbat, have also been caught up in the dragnet, which has largely focused on books about racial equity and LGBTQ issues.)

Despite those instances and other bans parents are seeking, DeSantis said there was no significant campaign to ban Holocaust books. He called that allegation the "book ban hoax."

"Those are all fake narratives," he said. "We've provided curriculum transparency for parents, to make sure that the curriculum used in school is transparent and to make sure everything is age appropriate and is not conflicting with Florida standards. And so, what parents have identified unfortunately are pornographic images in books."

The legislation, which has targeted books about sexuality and gender, is at the center of DeSantis' campaign to limit or ban discussion of those topics in schools. Another law, called the "Parental Rights in Education" bill and dubbed by critics as the "Don't say gay" bill, also bans discussion of LGBTQ topics between kindergarten and third grade, among other measures. It is one of a series of recent state laws limiting transgender rights.

That law is also at the center of DeSantis' feud with Disney, the state's largest employer, which just sued the governor for allegedly punishing the company for its criticism of the law. At the press conference, DeSantis said the suit is about Disney wanting "to be able to control things without proper oversight."

DeSantis did not refer specifically to the Anne Frank graphic novel in his remarks and said Florida had "beefed up" Holocaust education in the state. But a Jewish ally of his who accompanied him on the trip, Republican state Rep. Randy Fine, defended banning the book, which he called the "Anne Frank pornography book." (Fine authored the bill barring the distribution and display of "ethnic intimidation" materials.)

"I read the diary of Anne Frank many times as a kid and I don't remember any of that stuff that they put in that graphic novel," Fine told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. "And frankly that graphic novel is antisemitic. To sexualize the diary of Anne Frank in that sort of inappropriate way, it is antisemitic."

When told that the passages, which are authentic and relate to Frank's attraction to another girl as well as a description of her own genitalia, have been included in the diary for decades, Fine said that the graphic novel was inappropriate regardless because it depicted the passages in an image.

"It wasn't just that the passages were in the book," he said. "It was how they were visualized."

[yankeedoodle]

TIMELINE: RON DESANTIS' PATHETIC OBSESSION WITH PLEASING JEWS
https://floridanationalists.com/2023/04/26/timeline-ron-desantis-pathetic-obsession-with-pleasing-jews/

Desperate, Jew-worshipping freak Ron DeSantis is unhinged. It appears the "woke" Democrats were right about this coward and traitor, as the fate of our nation increasingly rests upon our ability to stop him in his sick, hate-fueled mission to destroy the American people at the behest of our greatest foreign enemy, the illegitimate, satanic, terrorist state of Israel and the bloodthirtsty, America-hating Jews who call it home, starting with the great people of our home state of Florida.

Thursday, DeSantis was in Jerusalem to effectively repeal the First Amendment to the United States Constitution before his Jewish masters. The announcement of the trip came less than a week after the Anti-Defamation League released a report that said incidents of Americans noticing Jewish power in Florida had more than doubled between 2020 and 2022.

DeSantis, never missing an opportunity to persecute the American people in order to please Jews in another country, quickly responded by traveling to Israel to sign off on legislation (HB 269) that would make any criticism of Jews or the state of Israel, or any remark, symbol, or gesture that makes a Jew uncomfortable, a felony, punishable by 5 years in prison. HB 269 is being called the "strongest antisemitism bill in the United States."

Many are just coming to realize that something is not quite right with Ron DeSantis, but this behavior is nothing new. As Zion Ron prepares to pursue his presidential aspirations, let's take a look back at what he's been up to during his time as the Governor of Florida.

10/15/2018: Speaking at a Broward synagogue, DeSantis promises his Jewish audience, "I think I can pledge this very credibly: As soon as I take the oath of office to be the next governor, that very day we will have the most pro-Israel governor in America here in Florida."

He touts his record and outlines his priorities on Israel and other issues important to Jews, such as his longstanding support for the relocation of the U.S. embassy to Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. "Of all the professional things that I've done, being there for that embassy opening was one of the best. It was awesome."

He says that his first overseas trip as governor would be to Israel and talks about baptizing his first born child in water his wife brought back from Israel, though it is unclear what religion calls for this. He promises to turn to Israel in his search for solutions to Florida's environmental crisis. "Who better to go to than people in Israel in terms of that ingenuity?.... I think that if you look at the innovation, there's no place on the planet that has more innovation per capita than Israel right now."

He also promises that anyone he appoints to boards of state colleges and universities must be committed to combatting anti-Semitism on campuses.

01/08/2019: Ron DeSantis is sworn in as Florida's 46th governor.

05/25/2019: DeSantis leads more than 100 Florida delegates, representing every corner of the state, and 10 members of the Florida press, on a seven day business development mission to Israel. During the mission:

• DeSantis meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "celebrate and strengthen the bi-lateral relationship and strong bond between Florida and Israel."

• DeSantis holds a joint press conference with Gilad Erdan, Israeli Minister of Public Security. DeSantis says, "I've made it clear since taking office that I will be the most pro-Israel Governor in the nation and that BDS is DOA in Florida."

• DeSantis and members of the Florida Cabinet meet with US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and attend a reception at his home with the Florida Delegation.

• DeSantis receives a briefing from Yuval Rotem, Director General of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

• DeSantis holds meetings and events with Israeli companies and business leaders to recruit new investments, including:

Rafael, a military and defense technologies development firm. Cellebrite, a digital intelligence platform developer. Israel Discount Bank, a financial services firm with commercial services as well as private, domestic and international banking. Nobactra, an agricultural research firm specializing in plant disease solutions, including citrus greening. Stemrad, which specializes in protective equipment for radiation. SpacePharma, a leading Israeli satellite agency. Nano Dimension, an electronic manufacturing company. INSIGHTEC, a leading technological medical device company. Attenti, which provides solutions for law enforcement and corrections agencies. B.G. Tech, a service and maintenance company for micro-electronics. And Gonen Usishkin, CEO of El Al Airlines.

• DeSantis delivers the keynote address at the 2019 Israel-America Business Summit.

• DeSantis leads two separate roundtable discussions on policy regarding water challenges facing Florida and Israeli technologies, as well as school safety and security with Florida and Israeli officials.

• DeSantis leads a ceremonial meeting with Florida Cabinet members at the US Embassy in Jerusalem where they hear from alleged survivors and family members of victims of Palestinian terrorism.

• DeSantis holds ceremonial bill signing for CS/CS/HB 741: Anti-Semitism.

• DeSantis participates in roundtable discussion with Israeli officials on the BDS movement.

• DeSantis plants a tree in the John F. Kennedy Peace Forest as a symbol of the strong friendship between Florida, the United States and the nation of Israel.

• DeSantis participates in a wreath laying ceremony at Yad Vashem honoring the memory of Jews who "perished" in the Holocaust.

• DeSantis visits the Western Wall.

• More than 20 strategic partnerships and Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) are established, a historic number, including:

A signing between Florida Atlantic University and Ariel University. A signing between Space Florida and the Israel Space Agency. A signing between Florida Atlantic University and Haifa University. A signing between the University of North Florida and Haifa University. A signing between Florida A&M University and Haifa University. A signing between Miami Dade College and Haifa University. A signing between DeSantis and Israel Minister of Tourism Yariv Gideon Levin. A signing between Space Florida and the Israel Innovation Authority. Eight signings between Tel Aviv University and Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, the Florida Institute of Technology, Florida International University, Miami Dade College, St. Leo University and the University of Central Florida. A signing between Florida Atlantic University and the Agricultural Research Organization Volcani Center. A signing between the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Israeli National Emergency Management Authority. A signing between the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Israel-America Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce. A signing between the University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Shaare Zedek Medical Center. And a signing between Florida International University and Tel Aviv University.

• DeSantis declares, "This historic mission has been the prelude to future prosperity and partnership between Florida and Israel... This week, we established an unprecedented number of alliances in science, business and academia. We affirmed our solidarity with Israelis and resolved to give no quarter to anti-Semitism."

05/31/2019: DeSantis officially signs CS/CS/HB 741: Anti-Semitism into law following the ceremonial bill signing in Jerusalem. The bill bans antisemitism and holocaust questioning in Florida schools and institutions.

The legislation lays out examples of what would be considered anti-Semitism, including "making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations" about Jews or "the power of Jews as a collective," such as "the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions." It also defines anti-Semitism as "accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interest of their own nations."

It also bans certain speech against the state of Israel on campuses, such as "applying a double standard to Israel by requiring behavior of Israel that is not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation, or focusing peace or human rights investigations only on Israel."

DeSantis says, "I'm proud to sign this bill to make clear through a bipartisan effort that anti-Semitism has no place in our state and our educational institutions will not tolerate discrimination against the Jewish people... I was especially proud to hold a ceremonial bill signing in Jerusalem. Florida is the most Israel-friendly state in the country and as long as I'm Governor, we will continue to stand with the Jewish community."

According to DeSantis, "CS/CS/HB 741 permits regulation to combat anti-Semitism within the realm of government institutions – such as an institution's anti-Semitic hiring or admissions policies, an instructor's indulgence of bizarre theories or pedagogical perversions, and student behavior that is harmful or disruptive."

30 prominent Jewish Floridians sent a letter to DeSantis saying the bill went too far by equating criticism of the Israeli government with anti-Semitism.

06/23/2020: DeSantis signs HB 1213 into law, revising the requirement to teach Holocaust education to include instruction concerning antisemitism, requiring school districts to report on Holocaust education instruction annually, requiring the Florida Department of Education to prepare and offer Holocaust education standards and curriculum; and designating "the second week in November" as 'Holocaust Education Week' in the state in recognition of November as the anniversary of Kristallnacht.

06/08/2021: DeSantis delivers remarks to a town hall briefing on antisemitism organized by the Jewish Federations of Florida. The event was sponsored by the Florida Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Community of West Coast Florida, and the Jewish Federations of Greater Naples, Greater Orlando, Lee & Charlotte Counties, Sarasota-Manatee, and Tampa. Jewish Federations organized the meeting to discuss the "increased incidence of antisemitic incidents that have occurred over the past few weeks."

"We all need to speak with one voice and say that antisemitism is not something that's going to be tolerated," DeSantis claims. "We are going to stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters and we are absolutely going to stand strong in support of the Florida-Israel relationship. The Legislature and I have worked really hard on a lot of great legislation over the past few years on issues including Holocaust education, anti-BDS legislation, security for synagogues and Jewish day schools, and so much more."

06/14/2021: Joined by members of the Florida Legislature and leaders in the Jewish community, DeSantis signs into law measures sought by Florida Jews, HB 529 and HB 805.

HB 805 ensures that Jewish volunteer ambulance services, including Hatzalah, a free emergency transport service operating in South Florida Jewish communities, can continue to operate. The bill allows authorized volunteer ambulance services to use emergency lights and sirens when responding and prohibits local governments from banning such ambulance services from operating, while also exempting them from fees or licensing requirements. "These services are critical for Holocaust survivors who have a fear of uniforms and of being taken away. Members are trained to treat patients according to Jewish law."

HB 529 requires Florida schools to hold a daily moment of silence, a long-held priority of the conservative Jewish Chabad-Lubavitch movement. It directs the principal of each public school to require teachers in first-period classrooms in all grades to set aside 1 to 2 minutes daily for a moment of silence, during which students may not interfere with other students' participation.

DeSantis also highlights initiatives included in the Florida Leads Budget to support Florida's Jewish community and Israel, such as:

• $4 million in security funding for Florida's Jewish Day Schools, including for the first time ever, funding for professional security.

• $1.35 million for the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Pete.

• $400,000 for the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach.

• $100,000 for the Holocaust Task Force.

• $250,000 for the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator.

• And $1 million in recurring funds for collaborative research, development, and commercialization of projects related to aerospace and other technology through a memorandum of understanding which Space Florida has entered into with Israel.

DeSantis announces, "I will continue to make sure that in Florida we root out anti-semitism, and that every day we show our support for Israel and our Jewish communities."

One week prior, DeSantis took part in an online town hall sponsored by Florida Jewish federations, prompted in response to a global rise in antisemitism that "experts" say stemmed from recent clashes between Israeli defense forces and Palestinian-supported Hamas.

07/14/2021: At the direction of DeSantis, the State Board of Education adopts additional curriculum standards for Holocaust education. He states, "We want to make sure our students understand the evils of the Holocaust. You see people throughout the world try to diminish or even reject that the Holocaust even happened."

07/22/2021: DeSantis sends a letter to the Executive Director & Chief Investment Officer of the Florida State Board of Administration, Ash Williams, requesting that the SBA initiate the process of placing Ben & Jerry's and its parent company Unilever on Florida's List of Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel, following the company's announcement that it would remove its products and prohibit the sale of its ice cream in parts of Israel.

"If a company does not cease its boycott of Israel within 90 days of being placed on the list, it becomes subject to an investment prohibition and the State of Florida will not contract with the company or its subsidiaries."

After meetings with the Israeli government, Unilever is forced to sell its Israeli rights to the ice-cream label to local franchisee Avi Zinger, who will sell Unilever's products without their involvement.

11/09/2022: As requested by DeSantis, the Florida Department of Education officially recognizes Holocaust Education Week.

From DeSantis' proclamation on Holocaust Education Week, "...we the people of the state of Florida will always remember the horrors of the Holocaust and stand against all forms of tyranny, and dedicate ourselves to protecting individual freedom, democracy and a just society... understanding the history of the Holocaust and antisemitism offers an opportunity to study the consequences of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping, and examine what it means to be a responsible and respectful person... Section 1003.42(2)(g)1., Florida Statutes requires Florida's public K-12 schools to faithfully teach the 'history of the Holocaust (1933-1945), the systematic, planned annihilation of European Jews and other groups by Nazi Germany and the prevention of antisemitism'..."

11/20/2022: DeSantis headlines the final night of the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual confab in Nevada, aiming to send a clear message to Donald Trump and GOP voters that he is the party's future by convincing them that he is the most pro-Jew.

DeSantis rattles off Israel policy accomplishments and efforts to block campus antisemitism, and boasted that he was the first statewide elected official to hold a public event in "Judea and Samaria."

"We won the highest share of the Jewish vote for any Republican candidate in Florida history," he claimed. "I will say if you look at our record on issues related to Israel and supporting the Jewish community it is second to none."

He wasn't kidding.

These are only a few examples to demonstrate Ron's tireless dedication to serving the Jews. Look around and you'll find countless other bills and deals, events and comments, all directed at advancing the cause of the Jews, and punishing those who challenge them, often at the expense of the American people, and our rights and liberties.

Unfortunately, this means nothing to a self-serving traitor like our governor. Ron DeSantis doesn't care about America. He doesn't care about Floridians, and least of all White people or Christians. Ron DeSantis only cares about two things: Jews and himself, likely the former for the sake of the latter.

When your governor is signing legislation that makes it a felony for you to criticize a foreign nation, from said foreign nation before its leaders, your governor is a traitor. Ron DeSantis is an enemy of the people.

[yankeedoodle]

DeSantis role in Guantanamo Bay killings exposed with a holed report
By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Guardian
The height of inhumane treatment and systemic torture in the camp was during DeSantis' term serving as a JAG officer, whose main task was to identify the weaknesses of the detainees and to "tighten the screws" on them.
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/desantis-role-in-guantanamo-bay-killings-exposed-with-a-hole

While Washington kept details about young navy lawyer Ron DeSantis' position in Guantanamo Bay under wraps, the  Republican's role in the notorious prison camp – most notably in the investigation of three deaths – haunts the Florida governor who is poised to launch his presidential exploratory committee next month.

Ron DeSantis in Guantanamo
DeSantis served as a JAG officer, which essentially means that he was a Judge Advocate General Corps. He was a law student, previously completing his undergraduate studies at Yale, where he was part of the Delta Cappa Epsilon like the two 'Bushes' –  George HW Bush and his son, George Bush. A pro-Confederate and blatantly racist, his political career with the Pentagon began immediately in his second year of law school.

However, his job was never reduced to courtrooms, but rather to conduct rogue, clandestine operations – his official job, a guise, was to "ensure the human rights of detainees."

It was quite the opposite.

The height of inhumane treatment and systemic torture in the camp was during DeSantis' term serving as a JAG officer, whose main task was to identify the weaknesses of the detainees and to "tighten the screws" on them – and, in addition, to keep a clean record. He made sure that human rights were violated to the worst degree, according to a podcast episode of the Eyes Left Podcast.

What he did – and his complicity in three killings
Guards and medical assistants were urgently requested to one of the inmate clinics in the Guantanamo detention camp in the middle of a June night 17 years ago, where an emergency was developing.

Ali Abdullah Ahmed and Mani Shaman Al-Utaybi were two prisoners who had been brought in dead. Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani, a third person who had been taken by ambulance to the hospital on the US naval base, was later pronounced dead there. The three men were reportedly discovered with rags stuffed down their throats, their wrists and feet shackled, and a rope around their necks.

In the notoriously infamous Guantanamo Bay detention camp, it was the worst loss of life in the prison camp's history amid a chaotic year in which there were torture, hunger strikes, and three deaths. Officers from all around the base were reportedly awakened from their slumber and raced to Camp Delta, the main internment facility.

R Adm Harry Harris, the base commander who would later command the Pacific fleet, as well as Col Michael Bumgarner, the administrator of the entire prison system, arrived. Witnesses stated that at some point, Lt. Ron DeSantis, a naval lawyer or judge advocate general (JAG) who was only 27 years old, arrived later.

Three months prior, the future governor of Florida and potential Republican presidential candidate had been sent to Guantanamo as a member of a legal team allegedly charged with ensuring that the guards and other military personnel complied with the law. Although he was the camp's most junior JAG, Capt. Patrick McCarthy, his superior officer, gave him the order to begin gathering preliminary evidence after the three deaths on the evening of June 9, 2006.

DeSantis' involvement in the probe is not apparent in terms of when it started. An anonymous JAG was reportedly present at the location in the early hours of June 10, according to several witness testimonies. McCarthy declined to comment but told The Washington Post reported that he had given DeSantis the go-ahead to gather material.

"I cannot tell you specifically what [DeSantis] did," McCarthy said as quoted by The Post but said his subordinate was probably "involved in facilitating access to information, trying to make sure that privileged information did not get swept up. He would have been one of the folks that I dispatched to help facilitate the investigative effort."     

A Mauritanian prisoner at Camp Delta named Ahmed Abdel Aziz stated that he recognized DeSantis much later when he became famous as the governor of Florida.

"DeSantis and his group, the JAGs people were there. They were conducting the investigation," Aziz said. "They were coming the same day the people died. They came to the cells."

DeSantis: how did Ahmed, Al-Utaybi and Al-Zahrani die?
How Ahmed, Al-Utaybi, and Al-Zahrani died is still under a veil of secrecy. One thing is crystal clear: What DeSantis witnessed and heard in the hours and days following their deaths can lead to a revelation of the truth about the death of the three.

The three inmates had committed suicide, ruled Harry, who would later serve as the US ambassador to Seoul, calling the atrocity that just took place "an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us" before the investigation had even started.

An official inquiry by the Navy Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS), which DeSantis had been drafted to support, agreed with Harris' hurried-up conclusion in just 11 days. However, the results of that investigation weren't made public until two years later in a report that was filled with contradictions, literal gaps, and missing pages.

Covering up with an absurd, nonsensical account
Anyone present at the scene would have been aware that there were serious questions about the official account. The dead men, as per the US official story, chained their own hands and feet, stuffed cloth down their own throats, made nooses out of pieces of cloth, climbed on their washbasins with the noose around their necks, and stepped off.

This comes although they had only spent the previous 72 hours together in the same prison block, Alpha, in separate cells with empty cells in between. High-security inmates in the Alpha Block were not allowed to interact or even speak with one another. However, it was claimed that the three men planned to commit suicide at the exact same time and in the exact same way.

Ahmed and Al-Utaybi's bodies exhibited advanced rigor mortis by the time they were transported to the clinic, indicating that they died before 10.30 pm. According to the official account, they would have spent more than two hours dangling in transparent wire mesh-side cells in a block of roughly 15 inmates that was supposed to be continuously patrolled by a team of six guards along a central walkway. All this time passed without the guards noticing anything in the three cells, again, as per the official US story.

'He saw everything'
It is difficult to believe that someone with DeSantis' legal background would miss the contradictions in the official story, according to Mark Denbeaux, a professor at Seton Hall Law School who oversaw the forensic investigations into the three deaths.

"Any JAG would want to know how guys would die while they're in a cell guarded by five guys, and how they could have been hanging long enough for rigor mortis and with a rag shoved down their throats," Denbeaux said.

To justify the advanced rigor in the men's bodies, NCIS claimed that the three men stuffed other cloth into their beds to make it appear as though they were sleeping, covered their windows with blankets and mattresses, and obscured the view into their cells.

However, the same investigation failed to explain where they would have all acquired so much material, which was severely restricted to the residents of that block.

A few hours earlier, a guard shift had conducted a regular search of every Alpha block cell but discovered no indication of any such prohibited materials. Although "apparent suicide notes" were allegedly discovered, no fingerprint or handwriting analysis of the found documents was ever conducted.

The military intelligence unit troops stationed in the watch towers with a clear view of the camp, whose account of events differed significantly from that of the NCIS, as well as the top medical officer on duty that night, were not formally interviewed by the NCIS investigators.

The three deceased detainees had been turned over to the US by other forces who claimed they belonged to Al-Qaeda but were not considered to be high-value prisoners. Never was anyone charged. Al-Zahrani was only 17 when he was detained, and he died at the age of 22. He and Al-Utaybi, 30, were both Saudis. 37-year-old Ahmed was Yemeni. They were placed in Alpha Block because of their participation in a widespread hunger strike.

They were among the last participants of the protest against detention without trial and the poor conditions that had begun the previous year.

https://twitter.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1514287302742208512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1514287302742208512%7Ctwgr%5Eb3f09fd65441ba74ea52feeb17cf5f516c61e7d9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fenglish.almayadeen.net%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fdesantis-role-in-guantanamo-bay-killings-exposed-with-a-hole

The detainees were force-fed cans of Ensure, a liquid nutrition supplement usually taken by the elderly. DeSantis watched as detainees were strapped to the chair, force-fed can after can of Ensure through their noses.

"There was a colonel and DeSantis. They were looking at each other and were just smiling," Aziz tersely stated.

Aziz said of DeSantis, "He was coming on a regular basis. He was visiting the places where dark things and dirty things were perpetrated. He saw everything, and I guarantee you he never objected."

With the official account filled with contradictions, literal gaps, and missing pages, how the three inmates died remains unknown, but the intention could be nothing less than spilling blood.

Despite his long history of sadism and manipulation, in addition to his accomplice in torture and killings in Guantanamo Bay, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to jump into the presidential fray as soon as mid-May. The lawyer who watched and smiled as detainees were strapped to the chair, force-fed through their noses is running to become the new president of the United States.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nuG0MbpoLY

[yankeedoodle]

https://twitter.com/BarakRavid/status/1651935163566153730?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1651935163566153730%7Ctwgr%5Ee6e947965ac4bb59328d3d216247a16aab60f772%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.informationliberation.com%2F%3Fid%3D63732

[abduLMaria]

Doesn't much matter what DeSantis does.

The Jews will STILL think he's a Goyim Asshole.

And the Gentiles will KNOW he's an Asshole.

I can see why Trump would win the primary.