Ron DeSantis backs Antony Blinken’s assessment of Hamas attacks

A 2024 Republican presidential candidate is among the first to affirm the assessment of the Democratic Secretary of State regarding Hamas’ attacks on Israel.

During a Fox News interview, Gov. Ron DeSantis backed the sentiments of Antony Blinken.

“The Secretary of State is right to recognize Israel’s right to defend itself. He appropriately characterized what Hamas did as brutal terrorist attacks,” DeSantis said during an appearance on “The Faulkner Focus.”

In Qatar, Blinken stressed the partnership with the Middle Eastern nation “in the wake of Hamas’ appalling attack” that killed Americans and people from more than 30 other countries, and the shared hope the “conflict” doesn’t spread after “Hamas’ devastating attack.”

“I’m grateful for the urgency that Qatar is bringing to this effort,” Blinken said in Doha.

During his Fox News hit, DeSantis offered reminders that the conflict is only beginning and that Israel will require continued support.

“I think that the rubber is going to meet the road though, as we get further along the line, because you’re already seeing pressure on Israel. People are starting to attack Israel and that’s, like, going to continue. That’s been a cycle that we’ve dealt with through these terrorist attacks that Israel had to face,” DeSantis said.

“So I think it’s important that they, that they’re in this for the long haul, that they know that Israel’s finally got to deal with this problem,” he added. “You have to go into Gaza, you have to uproot all the infrastructure and you have to eliminate Hamas as a functioning force. And if you don’t do that, then you’re going to face these attacks in the future.”

Interestingly, given a confrontation DeSantis had in New Hampshire, where a purported supporter was grilling the Florida Governor over his Israel position, Qatar’s ties to Al Jazeera didn’t come up. DeSantis told his interlocutor, who cited the Qatari-funded network’s critical coverage of the conflict, that he “would be very careful” not to accept that take at face value.