DeSantis Under Fire After Pro-Israel Donor Calls Obama ‘N-Word’
A super PAC supporting Florida gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis returned multiple donations worth $11,000 from pro-Israel Trump supporter Steven Alembik. Image by facebook
A Republican activist who donated $20,000 to Florida gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis tweeted that President Obama was a “MUSLIM N——,” Politico reported Thursday.
Steven Alembik, who also lined up a speech for DeSantis at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, told Politico that he wrote the tweet in anger. He denied being a racist and said he understood if the campaign distanced itself from him, which it did immediately.
“We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: we adamantly denounce this sort of disgusting rhetoric,” DeSantis campaign spokesman Stephen Lawson wrote in a statement.
The incident is the fifth raced-related issue that DeSantis, his campaign or one of his supporters has faced since the beginning of the general election campaign, according to Politico. DeSantis was criticized the day after he won his primary election for saying in an interview that the economic policies of Democratic opponent Andrew Gillum, who is African-American, would “monkey this up.” Alembik had defended DeSantis’ comments.
The Forward exclusively reported earlier this month that a pro-DeSantis political action committee reimbursed $11,000 in donations from Alembik in June. But Politico reported that it kept $2,000 of his donations. Alembik told Politico that he asked for the money back because he donated from the wrong bank account.
Alembik’s biography on the website of the Zionist Organization of America, which appears to have since been deleted, lists Israel among his passions. He is also a leader of a group called The Truth About Israel, which controversially held its annual fundraiser last November at Mar-a-Lago, even after many other groups cancelled.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
