DeSantis Firm on Pro-Hamas Protesters: ‘Not in Florida

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis went to an area where pro-Hamas protesters tried to set up an encampment at the University of Florida recently and declared victory over the far-Left extremists.

DeSantis made the remarks in Gainesville where he noted that the encampment the pro-Hamas protesters tried to set up only lasted a few minutes, a far cry from encampments set up at major left-wing universities, some of which lasted well over a week.

“In the state of Florida, you do not have a right to commandeer property,” he said. “You don’t have a right to go take over parts of the university. You don’t have a right to go after other students based on their ethnicity. And we’re gonna ensure that that’s upheld in the state of Florida.”

“Now, if you look around the country, you have a lot of elite colleges and universities that have allowed themselves to become overrun with encampments, graffiti, as well as a lot of really nasty anti-Semitism at Columbia,” he continued.

“Pro-Hamas activists stormed buildings, took cleaning staff hostage, and destroyed iconic academic halls. At UCLA, Jewish students were barred from entering buildings on campus by pro-Hamas activists. At Portland State, the library was taken over and subsequently trashed by vagrants who weren’t even students of the university to begin with. And we see some of the chants that are done at these universities, such as, ‘From the river to the sea.’ Some are saying, ‘We don’t want no two-state.’”

He said that those who chant things like “from the river to the sea” want a second Holocaust against the Jews and are calling for Israel to be wiped off the map.

DeSantis continued bashing the pro-Hamas protesters at other schools: “You also see really disrespectful behavior at UNC, agitators removed the American flag and replaced it with a Palestinian flag. Now, how disrespectful is that to people that have fought and died for this country? 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 America.”

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“Even in New York City, you have a pro-Hamas people, they go to the World War I memorial and burn the American flag — just disrespectful conduct,”  he said. “Now, one of the things we’ve seen around the country is some of the people who are doing this aren’t even students of the university. So why would you have people who aren’t even students hijack your university for their agenda? That makes no sense whatsoever. So we’ve seen a lot of failures of leadership. We’ve seen some of these schools get overrun. That is not happening here in the state of Florida. You are going to behave appropriately, or if not, you’re gonna be shown the door. 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.”

He added that the “nonsense” that takes place in other states will not be tolerated in Florida.

WATCH:

NEW: Governor DeSantis speaks at the University of Florida, facing an angry mob of protesters — and making it clear that Florida will not cave to the fringe just because they yell the loudest. @GovRonDeSantis noted that these protests are not just criticizing Israel, across… pic.twitter.com/OVMbJaVjrZ

— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) May 8, 2024