DeSantis Bans Pro-Palestinian Groups From FL College Campuses

FLORIDA — Gov. Ron DeSantis has banned a pro-Palestinian student organization from state university campuses.

His administration said the group, Students for Justice in Palestine, is illegally backing Hamas militants, who attacked Israel earlier this month during a Jewish holy day, and is supporting a “terrorist organization.”

The group is calling for the end to Israel’s counterattacks on the Gaza strip.

The state university system’s chancellor, Ray Rodrigues, wrote a letter to university presidents Tuesday urging them to disband campus chapters of the organization. There are at least two campus chapters of the organization within the state university system.

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In the letter, Rodrigues referenced the National Students for Justice in Palestine toolkit on the issue, which refers to Operation al-Aqsa Flood as “the resistance” and says that “Palestinian students in exile are part of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement.”

Rodrigues reminded campus presidents that “it is a felony under Florida law to knowingly provide material support … to a designated foreign terrorist organization.”

Hamas was designated a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department in 1997.

Rodrigues wrote, “Based on the National SJP’s support of terrorism, in consultation with Governor DeSantis, the student chapters must be deactivated.”

The move is just the latest by the governor and his administration to undermine education, SJP said in a statement issued Wednesday.

“Florida, particularly under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, has been actively undermining education, freedom of speech and social justice movements, including by banning anti-racist courses and trying to criminalize protests. It is not surprising that this egregious move to silence the student movement for Palestinian rights is being pursued under DeSantis,” the group said.

Laws passed in recent years limit how race can be discussed on Florida state campuses.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free speech group, said the order from the DeSantis administration is unconstitutional.

“If it goes unchallenged, no one’s political beliefs will be safe from government suppression,” the group said in a statement.

DeSantis, who is vying for the Republican presidential nomination, has ramped up his anti-Palestine rhetoric since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

Less than a week later, he declared a state of emergency in Florida amidst the Israel-Hamas War to mobilize resources to bring Floridians stuck in the war zone back to the U.S.

As of Wednesday, nearly 700 Americans have been flown from Israel to Florida on four rescue flights, DeSantis posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

He’s said he would ban Gaza refugees from the U.S. during the war.

Since declaring the state of emergency, more than 100 state troopers and Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents have been deployed to protect synagogues, Jewish schools and communities with large Jewish populations, the governor added. The state has also sent two cargo planes with 85 pallets of donated supplies to Israel.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.