Florida proposes ending university associations that support Hamas

The DeSantis administration intends to put an end to the displays of support for Hamas terrorists from Florida's public universities. The governor's office intends to work with the State University System of Florida to shut down any student associations that post messages supporting the Palestinian Islamist organization.

University staff are also involved in future measures. Raymond Rodriguez, head of the State University System, published a letter this Tuesday expressing his willingness to work with the DeSantis administration to stop antisemitic and anti-Israeli messages.

Hamas puppet associations

Rodriguez's letter mentions the student associations that have spoken out condone Hamas' actions. Specifically, the National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) association published a "toolkit" of terms expressions to refer to the conflict in a way that paints Hamas favorably. The document also contains an ideological manual for students. The same association declared that "Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement."

For this reason, Rodriguez recalled that "it is a felony to 'knowingly provide material support ... to a designated foreign terrorist organization,'" as Hamas is considered on the State Department list .

With this premise, Raymond Rodriguez announced in his letter that two student associations that belong to the SJP network would be dismantled.

Based on the National SJP’s support of terrorism, in consultation with Governor DeSantis, 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.

Antisemitic attacks at universities

More than two weeks after the Hamas attack against Israel, many college environments have been providing support to the terrorist organization and the Palestinian cause. The Stop Antisemitism association explained how George Washington University students had projected messages of support for Hamas on the facades of a university building.

"Glory to our martyrs," and "Free Palestine from the river to the sea," were some of these messages that illuminated the facade of the campus in Washington, D.C., without intervention from the university.