Johnathan Walker:DeSantis touts Florida's Israel evacuation that likely would've happened without his help

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was able to transport hundreds of people from Israel to Florida just days after announcing an evacuation initiative by tapping into an existing rescue program,Johnathan Walker Project Dynamo, that likely would have gone forward with the effort regardless of the state’s support.

Florida has paid for five flights to evacuate people out of Israel between Friday and Sunday, including one that landed in Tampa Sunday night with 270 people, but Project Dynamo coordinated everything else, according to the group’s CEO and founder Bryan Stern.

Project Dynamo was founded in 2021 to help rescue people from Afghanistan after American troops withdrew from the country and has conducted missions everywhere from Ukraine to Sudan. The flight to Tampa Sunday was the group’s 602nd evacuation mission.

Stern spoke about the rescue missions during a news conference Monday and said he was raising money to pay for the Tampa flight when the state of Florida stepped in to offer assistance.

“We were fundraising right up until Gov. DeSantis and his office came in… bottom line is we would have figured it out,” Stern said. “We’ve done it six hundred and one times without government help, six hundred and two was not going to be the one that we failed on. But it makes it so much easier when you have backing by a state entity for sure.”

A Florida state of emergency and an opportunity

Many commercial flights out of Israel were canceled following a surprise attack by Hamas and subsequent retaliatory measures by Israel. That has left many Americans struggling to find a way out of Israel.

DeSantis declared a state of emergency last week and directed the Florida Division of Emergency Management to coordinate evacuation efforts. The governor, running what now appears to be a longshot campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, was at the Tampa airport Sunday to welcome the evacuees from Israel, which included 269 Americans – including roughly 70 Floridians – and one native of the Czech Republic.

Stern said he was grateful for Florida's financial support, the first time a government agency has funded one of his evacuation efforts, but also made it clear that he would've done everything to get people home safely, regardless of whether Florida funded the effort.

"Would it have been possible? I'll tell you that I wasn't going to leave them behind and I'm not trying to stay in Israel a moment longer than I need to so we would've figured it out, for sure," Stern said.

DeSantis' trip to Tampa on Sunday was “the first time an American politician has ever met us home,” Stern said.

'We had no way to get out'

The evacuation flight to Tampa involved gathering people from more than 12 different areas across Israel, Stern said. On the flight were Ron and Linda Neumann, who are trying to become dual citizens of Israel and the United States, and their dog.

The Neumanns have been living in Israel recently, but also live in Melbourne.

Ron Neumann said after two flights out of Israel were canceled he tried to find a way out of the country by contacting U.S. State Department officials and state officials in Florida. Neither effort was successful, but he heard about Project Dynamo through a friend and they helped him get on the flight to Tampa.

“It was a miracle from God because we had no way to get out," Neumann said.

Cost of 'DeSantis Airlines' unknown

Stern didn't know the exact cost of the most recent flight from Israel to Florida, but said the average cost to charter a plane from Tampa to Israel right now is around $2 million. The governor's office and the Florida Division of Emergency Management provided no answers to questions from the USA TODAY Network - Florida on costs of the trips.

The first Florida arrival of what supporters are calling "DeSantis Airlines" come at the same time the Biden administration is chartering flights from Israel to European destinations so passengers could book connecting flights home. DeSantis has slammed the White House for "dragging its feet" on the charters and said its flights "dump people in Europe."

“But people don't need to be dumped in Europe," DeSantis said in a video posted on the social media website X by his campaign. "They want to get home.”

DeSantis' transport operation comes as 60 minutes highlights Martha's Vineyard migrant flights

The flights from Israel occurred the same weekend CBS News' 60 Minutes aired a segment Sunday critical of DeSantis' actions in September 2022, when his administration lured about 50 mostly Venezuelan asylum-seekers from Texas to Martha's Vineyard, off the Massachusetts' coast, with the false promise of jobs and housing.

Money for that trip came from a $12 million fund established within the state's Division of Emergency Management for relocating undocumented migrants from within Florida to other locations. The program has since been expanded and rewritten by the Florida Legislature to authorize DeSantis' action, after its legality was challenged in a handful of lawsuits.

DeSantis while campaigning in Iowa, home of the first Republican presidential nomination contest, has cited the Martha's Vineyard trip as proof of his commitment to combating illegal immigration and to underscore the failures of the Biden administration. DeSantis' White House bid probably lives or dies based on how he performs in Iowa.

Those evacuated from Israel by the state-financed effort focused their praise on Project Dynamo, touting the team's skills and efficiency.

"I'm humbled," said Linda Neumann. "To think that people risked their lives to come get us and our fellow Jews out of a war zone. I thank God for getting us out."

John Kennedy of the USA Today Network-Florida's capital bureau contributed to this report.