(The Center Square) – The state of Florida has instructed its state university system to deactivate pro-Palestinian student groups on campuses after they expressed support for the terrorist acts of Hamas against Israel and encouraged others to participate in “anti-Zionist” acts.
Chancellor Ray Rodrigues sent a memo to all State University System of Florida presidents on Tuesday, in line with a directive of Gov. Ron DeSantis to protect Jewish residents, including students. DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, have also called for the cancellation of visas of anyone in the U.S. expressing support for Hamas.
Hamas, the acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement), was designated by the U.S. State Department as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.
On Oct. 12, DeSantis declared a state of emergency in Florida and directed state agencies to take actions in several areas, including law enforcement, which have increased security efforts and responded to threats against Jewish residents statewide. Attorney General Ashley Moody also sent a directive to 21 state college and university police chiefs highlighting the statutes that prohibit and assign penalties for antisemitic hate crimes.
Under DeSantis, the Florida legislature amended state law to define anti-Semitism as “a certain perception of Jewish people, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jewish people, rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism directed toward a person, his or her property, or toward Jewish community institutions or religious facilities.”
After a Hamas founder called for an international “Day of Resistance,” a National Students for Justice in Palestine group organized events on U.S. college campuses nationwide. It also published a “toolkit,” to encourage students to participate stating, “Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement.”
The toolkit includes “messaging” for Palestinian students in the U.S. to use against Israeli “occupiers” and “Zionist media campaigns.” It states, “when people are occupied, resistance is justified – normalize the resistance.” This includes handing out and posting flyers on campuses to challenge “Zionist hegemony,” organizing teach-ins, contacting student organization and local community members, among other strategies.
Rodrigues’ memo reminds the presidents that it’s a felony under Florida law to “knowingly provide material support … to a designated foreign terrorist organization…”
He points out that the National SJP “has affirmatively identified it is part of the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood—a terrorist led attack,” and the SUSF “has at least two institutions with active National SJP Chapters,” existing under the National Students for Justice in Palestine.
Based on the group’s stated support of Hamas terrorist acts, Rodrigues said, “the student chapters must be deactivated. These two student chapters may form another organization that complies with Florida state statutes and university policies. The two institutions should grant these two chapters a waiver for the fall deadlines, should reapplication take place.”
Earlier this year, DeSantis signed a bill into law providing greater mechanisms to law enforcement to combat anti-Semitism. It amended public nuisance laws in several ways, including increasing penalties to a third-degree felony if someone dumps litter onto private property for the purpose of intimidating or threatening the owner and it contains a credible threat.
The penalty was increased to a first-degree misdemeanor to willfully and maliciously harass, threaten, or intimidate someone if they are wearing or displaying any indicia relating to any religious or ethnic heritage, and to a third-degree felony if the act includes making a credible threat. The law also requires that violations be reported as hate crimes.
In 2019, DeSantis was the first Florida governor to sign a bill into law in Israel while also holding a Florida Cabinet meeting there.
DeSantis in 2019 also signed HB 741 into law, which added religion as a protected class as it pertains to students and employees attending and employed by Florida’s public education system. It also requires public K-20 educational institutions to treat discriminatory acts committed by students or employees or institutional policies motivated by anti-Semitism identical to discrimination motivated by race.
