GOP presidential candidate and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley let loose on her opponent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, this week for hitting the campaign trail in Iowa with a member of Congress who she called the \u2018most anti-Israel Republican there is.\u2019<\/p>\n
DeSantis was joined at a Johnston, Iowa, town hall on Saturday by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who made headlines for a string of recent votes in the House of Representatives that saw him side with a number of Democrats, including the far-left \u2018Squad,\u2019 against bills in support of Israel.<\/p>\n
\u2018Ron DeSantis \u2013 who says Ukraine\u2019s a territorial dispute, and that this is Israel\u2019s war, not America\u2019s war \u2013 turns around and brings in a Republican into Iowa that is the most anti-Israel Republican there is,\u2019 Haley told a crowd of supporters at a campaign event near Des Moines, Iowa, on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u2018[Massie] voted with the \u2018Squad\u2019 against calling out antisemitism on college campuses, voted with the \u2018Squad\u2019 against hitting the presidents that were allowing it to happen, and voted with the \u2018Squad,\u2019 the only Republican, to turn around and ban the fact that we shouldn\u2019t give $6 billion to Iran for five hostages. That\u2019s who he brought to Iowa. So let him answer for that,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n
Massie, a self-described Libertarian, has opposed much of the legislation in support of Israel introduced following the horrific Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas terrorists that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, including babies. However, he has maintained that he is a supporter of Israel.<\/p>\n
Last month, he voted against a resolution reaffirming the nation of Israel\u2019s right to exist, joining Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., two members of the \u2018Squad,\u2019 in opposing the legislation. In a post on X following the vote, he cited the language within the resolution for his decision.<\/p>\n
\u2018I agree with the title \u2018Reaffirming the State of Israel\u2019s Right to Exist\u2019 and much of the language, but I\u2019m voting \u2018No\u2019 on the resolution because it equates anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Antisemitism is deplorable, but expanding it to include criticism of Israel is not helpful,\u2019 he wrote.<\/p>\n
Massie also voted alongside 22 Democrats last month against a resolution condemning antisemitism on college campuses. He cited concerns over free speech as the reason for his vote.<\/p>\n
\u2018Free speech means protecting speech you don\u2019t like, not just speech you do like. Also, who defines antisemitism?\u2019 he wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n
Additionally, Massie voted against the No Funds for Iranian Terrorism Act, a bill to freeze funds associated with the Iran hostage deal and impose maximum sanctions on the nation.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m voting against HR 5961 because there\u2019s no legal or moral authority for us to freeze or steal assets of other countries we are not at war with. It\u2019s also shortsighted for us to use our super-power status to force foreign banks to freeze assets of sovereign countries,\u2019 he wrote on X about his vote.<\/p>\n
DeSantis responded to criticism of his appearance with Massie during a Monday campaign event by stating that he did not see eye-to-eye with the congressman on foreign relations issues and referred to him as \u2018basically an isolationist.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018He votes against anything having to do with foreign relations. I disagree with that,\u2019 DeSantis said. \u2018But you know, my 80% friend is not my 20% enemy, and we\u2019ve got to stop thinking that way, as Republicans.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
When reached for comment, DeSantis campaign press secretary Bryan Griffin told Fox News Digital, \u2018Nikki Haley is just trying to distract from her record of inviting Gaza refugees to the U.S. and supporting U.S. tax dollars going to the Gaza Strip.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Ron DeSantis has been the clearest, most consistent pro-Israel candidate in this race. He has unequivocally supported Israel in exterminating Hamas, passed the strongest anti-Iran legislation of any state in a special session in November, and jumped into action to bring Americans home from Israel who were stranded by Joe Biden,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n
In contrast to the DeSantis campaign\u2019s debunked claim about Gaza refugees, Haley has said surrounding countries sympathetic to Hamas should be the ones to accept refugees from Gaza, not the U.S.<\/p>\n
Fox News Digital has reached out to Massie\u2019s office for comment.<\/p>\n\n
GOP presidential candidate and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley let loose on her opponent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, this week for hitting the campaign trail in Iowa with a member of Congress who she called the \u2018most anti-Israel Republican there is.\u2019 DeSantis was joined at a Johnston, Iowa, town hall on Saturday by Rep. Thomas <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13070","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}