Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has mandated that the state take harsh measures against student organizations at universities that expressed support for Hamas’ terrorist operations against Israel two weeks ago through Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
The governor ordered Ray Rodrigues, president of the University System of Florida, to inform both the University of Florida as well as the University of South Florida that they will need to cancel their SJP chapters since they are purportedly in violation of Florida’s anti-terrorism laws.
“On a holy Jewish holiday, the known terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel for no reason. Infants, women, as well as the elderly were among the people killed,” Rodrigues wrote to the heads of Florida’s public universities. “About 1,400 Israelis have been brutally killed so far, and 31 of them were Americans. The Florida College System, Governor DeSantis, as well as our State University System, have all spoken out against these threats.”
“The National Students for Justice from Palestine issued a “toolkit” in its reaction to the terrorist attacks by Palestinian Islam.” The letter stated that “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is referred to as ‘the resistance’ and that ‘Palestinian students living in exile are explicitly stated to be PART of this movement, rather than in solidarity with it.’”
As stated in the letter, it is against the law in Florida to “knowingly supply material assistance to a named foreign terrorist group.” The United States has named Hamas a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
“National SJP has affirmed that it is an affiliate of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, an attack led by terrorists,” the letter said. It went on to say, “Because National SJP supports terrorism, the student chapters are required to be deactivated after consulting with Governor DeSantis.”
At the end of the letter, Florida said it would keep an eye on what was happening on university campuses and “employ all tools at our disposal in order to crack down on campus protests that go outside of protected First Amendment speech directly into harmful backing of terrorist groups.”
