MELBOURNE BEACH, FL—A Republican Lawmaker seeking a Florida Senate seat has remained unabashedly pro-Israel and pro-military action amidst a seven-month-long war with Hamas, a series of pro-Palestine college protests, and an apparent divide in the Democratic party over which entity to support.
Late Sunday, Israel ordered around 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate the city of Rafah, announcing looming military action in what Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called a "Hamas stronghold". This caused global alarm over the fate of 1.4 million Palestinians sheltering there.
Randy Fine, a member of the House of Representatives since 2016 who is seeking the newly vacant Senate District 19 seat, has made the Israel-Hamas war a top talking point leading up to the election.
As the bombing commenced this morning, Fine posted "Glorious. #BombsAway," to his X account. However, just hours after his tweet, Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal to end the war. Israel has rejected the deal, stating its terms are too "far-reaching".
This would be the second ceasefire Israel has turned down, compared to Hamas' four rejected ceasefire agreements since it began the war on October 7th with a nighttime massacre of 1,200 Israelis.
Fine, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has also been vehemently opposed to pro-Palestinian protests erupting throughout college campuses across the country, many of which have led to hundreds of arrests and accusations of universities fostering anti-semitic attitudes.
"Next year, I will seek to defund any Florida university or college that sponsors this terrorist group on campus," Fine posted on X, referring to protest organizers Students for Justice Palestine, which demands the divestment of university funds away from Israeli support.
Democrats, meanwhile, have been divided over whether or not to support these protests and, by extension, Palestine. Over the weekend, Florida Democrats held a fundraising event in Orlando hosting keynote speaker Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who has said campus protests are "working against peace" and has urged protesters to instead pressure Hamas into accepting ceasefire agreements.
Because of his pro-Israel stance, a progressive faction of the Democratic party called for Fetterman's invitation to be rescinded, citing his "betrayal" of progressive Democrats nationwide for agreeing to fund a "genocide" of Palestinians.
