An emergency front of the IDF Home Front Command was sent to Miami on June 27 to aid in the rescue efforts. The Surfside tower was demolished on Monday as Tropical Storm Elsa was scheduled to hit Western Florida on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Eric Garland, a liberal political activist, took to Twitter on Monday to add fuel to the conspiracy theory fire. Garland responded to a tweet by Florida Senator Jason Pizzo, with a video of the demolition of the Surfside building.
He wrote to his over 250K followers, “Given the presence of Israeli Defense Forces in this mess, I have a lot of questions as to why this building was demolished in such a rush.”
The tweet received hundreds of retweets and over a thousand likes as well as many replies making assumptions about the IDF’s involvement.
Garland did not expand on this claim further.
Rafael Shimunov, a political activist from Queens, New York, also took to Twitter on Monday to voice his opinion about the IDF’s involvement.
Shimunov wrote: “I really don't understand the IDF's involvement in rescue attempts of people tragically crushed under buildings in Miami. Their expertise is crushing buildings with people in them, not rescuing them.”
I really don't understand the IDF's involvement in rescue attempts of people tragically crushed under buildings in Miami. Their expertise is crushing buildings with people in them, not rescuing them.
— raf (@rafaelshimunov) July 5, 2021
Palestinian-American political activist Linda Sarsour replied to Shimunov’s tweet with fingers pointing upwards in agreement.
Shimunov added that, “Next the Israeli government will be jumping over occupied Palestinians without vaccines to send vaccines and photographers to Latin America 11,000 km. away. Oh, nevermind. They already planned that.”
Next the Israeli government will be jumping over occupied Palestinians without vaccines to send vaccines and photographers to Latin America 11,000km away.Oh, nevermind. They already planned that.
— raf (@rafaelshimunov) July 5, 2021
This Twitter thread was followed by a possible justification from Shimunov about the IDF’s involvement. Shimunov drew his followers' attention to the Jewish ritual of chesed shel emes, the process of recovering remains for burial, which IDF soldiers are well-versed in from terror attacks.
Shimunov concluded that the efforts by the IDF soldiers in Miami are rooted in Israeli government propaganda and hypocrisy.