Florida governor and GOP presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis appeared on the "Megyn Kelly Show" on Tuesday and commented on fellow candidate Nikki Haley's changing stance concerning whether the U.S. should accept refugees from Gaza.
In remarks Sunday, Haley asserted that around 50% of Gaza's population, during her tenure as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, held a deep antipathy towards Hamas and aspired to liberate themselves from what she characterized as the organization's "terrorist governance," the New York Post reported.
"You've got half of them, at the time that I was there, didn't want to be under Hamas' rule. They didn't want to have terrorists overseeing them. The other half supported Hamas and wanted to be a part of that," Haley told host Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." "There are so many of these people who want to be free from this terrorist rule.
"They want to be free from all of that, and America has always been sympathetic to the fact that you can separate civilians from terrorists."
Haley has since changed her position, according to DeSantis.
"I'm glad she's flipped," he said.
DeSantis, however, questioned the necessity of vetting people as refugees, emphasizing, "But why would you even have the discussion about vetting people and saying you can separate one from the other unless you were saying we would import them?"
The Florida governor went on to ponder the reasoning behind vetting individuals if they were ultimately bound for Egypt.
"Why would we, why would we be vetting people if they're just going to go take up shop in Egypt? We'd have no role in that."
DeSantis inferred that Haley's initial position implied an intention to import these refugees, which garnered criticism and "a lot of blowback" due to what he deemed an "untenable position."
DeSantis welcomed her change of heart, suggesting it reflected an inclination to cater to elite opinion. He noted that his stance of not accepting refugees from Gaza enjoyed support from many Americans, even though it might not be widespread in elite circles.
"My view of no refugees from Gaza ... probably not that popular in elite circles, and I think she tries to cater to that," he said.
Moreover, DeSantis surmised that Haley may still harbor the illusion that individuals in the Middle East aspired to adopt American-style democracy and freedom. He contended that this was not the true objective of the people in Gaza.
"That is not what they're after," he said.
DeSantis contended that many in Gaza had been raised with an animosity towards Jews, and added, "The average person in Gaza, that's been taught to hate Jews, you know, their view is they don't necessarily want their own state; what they seek is the destruction of the Jewish state."
He also emphasized that this sentiment was not confined to Hamas alone but was a "deeply embedded belief among Palestinian Arabs in the Gaza Strip."