Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former Republican presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential race, said Thursday that anti-Israel demonstrators on Florida college campuses are subject to harassing, aggressive or belligerent behavior. He said he could be expelled from the school.
This comes as Ivy League schools such as Columbia University, Harvard University and Yale University all face pro-Palestinian protesters occupying their campuses and encampments and threats against Jewish residents. Happened. Schools such as Texas State, the University of Southern California, and the University of Minnesota are also facing challenges, with more than 100 arrests combined at Texas State and the University of Southern California on Wednesday.
DeSantis told attendees Thursday at a “Strengthen Florida” event that pro-Palestinian demonstrators were “taking over bridges, taking over roads.”
“First of all, you don’t have that right,” DeSantis said, adding that someone with a medical emergency who needs to go to the hospital could be stuck in an unwarranted traffic jam at an inopportune time. he added.
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“Someone might have to pick up a child somewhere, but with this you’re just taking over the road.” [ideology]? ”
A similar group attempted a similar act in Miami, but “within 10 minutes they were dragged off the road where they were supposed to be,” the governor backed out.
“We’re not going to tolerate that,” DeSantis said, and the room erupted in applause.
Pro-Palestinian students demonstrate on the Columbia University campus on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in New York City. Several students were arrested as officers cleared an encampment on the campus lawn. (Peter Garber, Fox News Digital)
DeSantis criticized demonstrators representing Hamas, calling them “ridiculous.” He said chasing Jewish students around or denying Jewish professors access to certain areas is “not free speech. It’s harassment. It’s a violation of proper conduct.”
The governor said anti-Israel protesters at Yale and Columbia universities “rule the roost and do whatever they want.” He said the presidents of these universities are “weak and scared and won’t do anything.”
“If you’re doing that in Florida or at our university, we’re showing you the door. If you’re doing that, you’re going to be expelled,” he said. “And you know what? The moment people start facing consequences, you can no longer see this kind of nonsense happening.”
DeSantis later tweeted his speech with this statement attached, repeating his earlier comments.
“At places like Columbia University and Yale University, Hamas protesters rule the roost, and universities are too weak and too scared to do anything about it,” DeSantis said Thursday. “Even though he is harassing me,” he tweeted.
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“If you do that at a Florida college, you’ll get expelled.”
Florida has three of the most populous campuses in the country, with the University of Central Florida ranking fourth in the country with 68,442 students. The University of Florida ranks fifth in the country with 60,795 students, and Florida International University in Miami has 55,687 students, both based on enrollment for the 2022-23 academic year.
A woman is arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.Jay Janner/American politician (Jay Janner/American Politician)
Demonstrations and protests took place this week at two top 10 schools in Texas. At Texas A&M University, the nation’s second-most populous campus with 74,869 students, a small gathering of pro-Palestinian students on Tuesday raised money to evacuate families trapped in Gaza. To collect them, he read to people on the College Station campus. There were no reports of friction or arrests.
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Meanwhile, at the University of Texas in Austin, two hours west (the nation’s 10th most populous campus with 52,384 students), hundreds of anti-Israel demonstrators took to the campus lawn on Wednesday. I was pushed. Many of them clashed with local and state police officers. The Texas Tribune reported that 57 people were arrested Wednesday, and 46 of those charges have already been dropped.
