(The Center Square) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned protestors on Wednesday on the Sunshine State’s college campuses that destructive behavior won’t be tolerated.
The second-term GOP governor said at the University of Florida that these protestors have stormed and graffitied campus buildings, many at elite colleges and universities like Columbia University and UCLA.
DeSantis noted that Jewish students have also been barred from entering campuses and pointed out that many of these protestors and activists are not even students at the schools.
DeSantis said that these protestors are calling for the eradication of Israel and noted that while protestors can say what they want, they are essentially asking for a second Holocaust.
“The reality is, if you actually study the history of this, you would be able to see there’s never been a Palestinian state, that was Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years, then the British mandate, then the U.N partition plan, and basically Israel accepted that and the Arabs rejected and they went to war and they lost,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis said that this is concerning because people who are supporting Hamas have “no idea what they’re talking about,” and that elite higher education institutions around the U.S. are “graduating a bunch of imbeciles.”
DeSantis noted that the behavior seen on campuses in other states is disrespectful, and protestors are dragging down the U.S. flag, to replace it with a Palestinian flag instead.
“How disrespectful is that for people who have fought and died for this country?” DeSantis said. “At George Washington University, some of these agitators desecrated a statue of the father of our country, George Washington. Talk about disrespect for somebody who is really responsible more than anyone else, to ensure that we have an America.”
DeSantis said that this happens because there has been a failure in leadership on these campuses by letting them be overrun. He added that this is not happening in Florida and will not be tolerated.
“If we have a student that would take a janitor hostage like they did at Columbia University, the only appropriate response is that student is expelled immediately,” DeSantis said.
