James Fischback, a former Florida gubernatorial candidate, was forcibly removed by officers from a Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners meeting Tuesday afternoon after protesting the county’s expanded investment in Israel-backed bonds.
Fischback confronted commissioners over their decision earlier this summer to raise the county’s investment cap with Israel from 3% to 5% of its portfolio, a change that allows the county to invest between roughly $400 million and $450 million.
“Do you serve the people of Hialeah or of Haifa? Do you serve the people of Aventura or of Tel Aviv? Do you serve the people of South Miami or of Jerusalem? This money should be invested here in this community. It should be invested in Miami-Dade County,” Fischback said before officers escorted him out.
“What this is about, very simply, is whom do you serve?” he told the commission.
Fischback was one of 11 Republicans who ran to succeed outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis, taking 10.4% of the vote in the Aug. 18 primary. He drew national attention during that race for repeatedly calling primary frontrunner and eventual nominee Rep. Byron Donalds a “slave,” including once shouting at Donalds directly through a megaphone: “You’re a DEI hire. You’re a slave. Go back to New York.”
Fischback was among the only Republican candidates in that race to refuse donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and he campaigned on divesting Florida from Israel-backed bonds.
“Florida has a specific policy. You’re not allowed to use taxpayer funds to buy foreign government bonds, with one exception: Israel. And so my premise is, first principles, we should not be lending taxpayer pensioner money to any foreign government,” Fischback said in an interview with the American Conservative.
He also accused rivals, including Donalds, of “singular allegiance” to Israel. “I think people like Randy Fine and other AIPAC politicians have a singular allegiance. And that allegiance is to the best interests of Israel. The idea of saying ‘I am running to represent a foreign country’s interest in the United States Congress’ is preposterous. They’re buying allegiance,” he wrote on X.
Fischback was not the only speaker Tuesday to object to the county’s bond decision. Another attendee, who identified herself as Ivar Fandel and wore a “let Gaza live” shirt, told commissioners: “Item 5B does exist in the context of a budget crisis as well as a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of Israel.”
Fischback did not respond to a request for comment.
