Governor DeSantis in Trouble Over Trip to Israel
The following is a list of United Nations resolutions concerning Israel. As of 2013, Israel had been condemned in 45 resolutions by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Since the creation of the Council in 2006, it has resolved almost more resolutions condemning Israel than on the rest of the world combined. The 45 resolutions comprised almost half (45.9%) of all country-specific resolutions passed by the Council, not counting those under Agenda Item 10 (countries requiring technical assistance).[1] From 1967 to 1989 the UN Security Council adopted 131 resolutions directly addressing
Israel Condemned as Lead Human Rights Violator Among All Countries
The United Nations Human Rights Council has resolved almost more resolutions condemning Israel than on the rest of the world combined.
Israel Condemned as Lead Human Rights Violator Among All Countries
The United Nations Human Rights Council has resolved almost more resolutions condemning Israel than on the rest of the countries in the world combined.
Florida’s Sunshine Law, embedded in the state constitution, prohibits a public meeting from being held in a place that “operates in such a matter as to unreasonably restrict public access to such facility.”
The lawsuit filed cited this provision and noted that the U.S. embassy in Jersusalem, where the Cabinet meeting was held, also limited reporters’ and the public’s ability to use laptops and cell phones because of security concerns.
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TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday defended holding a ceremonial Cabinet meeting in Israel, 6,500 miles from the state Capitol, despite drawing a lawsuit claiming the event violated the state’s Sunshine Law.
The lawsuit was filed by the First Amendment Foundation, GateHouse Media, the Associated Press and other news organizations, but dismissed by a Leon County circuit judge because DeSantis and Cabinet officials were in Israel and could not be served with the legal challenge.
“This was streamed, and there was not a single thing that we did that was not completely public the whole time. I think it was an historic meeting,” DeSantis said.
The Cabinet meeting was held near the midpoint of DeSantis’s trip last week to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
The half-hour session included presentations on Israeli water quality and emergency management, testimony by an Israeli-American woman whose husband was stabbed to death last year by an Arab teenager and, lastly, a resolution recognizing the relationship between Florida and Israel.
But on a trip filled with symbolism, open-government advocates saw DeSantis and the Cabinet’s irreverence for the role of public access harmful and part of a pattern by Republican leadership in Florida. DeSantis’ predecessor, now U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, spent $700,000 in taxpayer money as settlements in seven open records lawsuits.
“It was fully compliant with the (open meetings) law,” DeSantis said.
He added, “I think the lawsuit was frivolous. But I do think that maybe it actually caused some Floridians to want to tune into a Cabinet meeting for a change.”
Florida’s Sunshine Law, embedded in the state constitution, prohibits a public meeting from being held in a place that “operates in such a matter as to unreasonably restrict public access to such facility.”
The lawsuit filed cited this provision and noted that the U.S. embassy in Jersusalem, where the Cabinet meeting was held, also limited reporters’ and the public’s ability to use laptops and cell phones because of security concerns.
Barbara Petersen, First Amendment Foundation president, said news organizations are still exploring next steps. But, she added, “Our complaint is not frivolous, despite the governor’s repeated remarks to the contrary.”
“There are serious constitutional issues at the heart of this and we don’t take those issues lightly.”