The latest remarks made by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on imposing sanctions against Airbnb and barring state employees have prompted controversy among Americans as well as the Israelis.
On Tuesday, the Republican governor appeared at the Jewish Federation of South Palm BeachCounty to announce his intention to deal with Airbnb’s decision in suspending the Israeli settlement listings built on the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank.
This comes around a month after Airbnb announced they are responding to pro-Palestine groups pressure and will remove all properties listed in Israeli settlements after they were accused of benefiting from the rents in illegal outposts.
Read More: Israel Reacts as Airbnb Removes Illegal Settlement Listings
DeSantis suggested two possible actions will be taken against Airbnb; either Florida state would suspend the use of Airbnb for state-paid travel or ban Florida’s pension fund from investing in the home-renting company.
One of these measures will be applied by the state should Airbnb did not reverse their decision and allow again the listings in the Israeli settlements of the West Bank.
In fact this was not of something new for DeSantis, as has expressed his support to Israel repeatedly during his campaign with promises to push for support for the “Jewish population”. Not only this, DeSantis has also announced on Tuesday his first overseas trip to Israel in May 2019 to pledge millions of dollars to Jewish schools.
Between accusing Airbnb of BDS support and promoting the anti-Semite ideology, many of DeSantis supporters applaud his decision.
On the other hand, not everyone was in awe of his remarks. many Americans weighed in on the controversy accusing the Floridarian governor of being “pawn” for Israel.
Others criticized DeSantis’ attempt to restrict Americans freedoms by punishing anyone opposed to his beliefs.
One user suggested that Airbnb should fireback at Florida’s governor and remove its listings from the state which will result in jobs and revenues losses to Floridarians.
Meanwhile, hashtag #BoycottFlorida started circulating social media, again, among users who slammed back at DeSantis and his supporters.
This hashtag was first used last week after both Republican Senators of Florida and Idaho, Marco Rubio and James Risch, had pushed through "Israel Anti-Boycott Act” into US law.
However, voting on the act had taken place in the US House of Senate last week and failed to make its way after majority of senators opposed it.
