Florida Cabinet Meeting Underway in Yerushalayim

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet are meeting in Israel.

The meeting opened Wednesday with the signing of a proclamation expressing Florida’s support of Israel. It was followed by discussions on terrorism, water supplies and emergency response.

The First Amendment Foundation and a coalition of news outlets sued to stop the meeting, saying it violates the state’s open government laws because the public didn’t have full access. A judge denied the emergency motion on Tuesday because court papers had not been served yet to attorneys for the governor and cabinet members.

The meeting was live-streamed in the Cabinet meeting room in the state Capitol, though technical glitches hampered the start of the meeting and sound quality was often bad.

Earlier, a judge in Florida denied an emergency motion from the First Amendment Foundation seeking to prevent Gov. DeSantis from convening the Cabinet meeting.

The judge said he couldn’t stop the meeting because attorneys for DeSantis and Cabinet officials had not been served with court papers.

The governor is on a four-day trade mission to Israel.