DeSantis Tells Israelis a Hurricane Mostly Spared Florida Thanks to ‘Prayer I Put in the Western Wall’

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited Israel as part of an international trip to try to burnish his international bona fides ahead of an anticipated presidential run. During a speech on Thursday, he credited a prayer he made at the Western Wall with largely sparing Florida from a hurricane in 2019.

His visit comes amid political upheaval in Israel over a plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to overhaul the country’s judiciary at a time when he is under indictment for corruption. The proposal has been temporarily shelved after massive protests in the country.

Speaking in Jerusalem on Thursday, DeSantis said the United States should avoid weighing in.

“We should not butt into their internal affairs, that is a debate that is happening here, it is obviously raging… but it is healthy to flush this stuff out. Israel is a rambunctious democracy,” he said.

At one point the governor told an anecdote about visiting the Western Wall, an ancient structure considered by many to be one of the holiest sites in the world:

We brought the delegation for prayer at the Western Wall. The only thing I can tell you is my prayer in 2019 was that we would be spared the upcoming hurricane season in the state of Florida.

And we were in a situation as we got in the height of hurricane season, you had a monstrous hurricane barreling east–er, barreling west towards the Florida peninsula – Hurricane Dorian. It was a category five, a very strong category five, and it was headed, basically gonna ram right into our state.

Well, and at that time, when it was on that track, people were saying, “Well, God must not be listening to the governor because we may be getting rammed here.”

Well, I can tell you, the storm was headed our way, it slowed down, it turned all the way, 90 degrees and went north and never impacted our coast. I’m chalking it up to the prayer I put in the Western Wall. People can offer whatever rationale they want.

Elsewhere in his speech, DeSantis said he used water from the Sea of Galilee to baptize his children.

Recent polls show DeSantis substantially trailing former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in what is currently a hypothetical race, though the governor has doubled Trump’s fundraising war chest.

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