In the wake of the brutal attacks by Hamas on Israel, GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said he would cancel student visas and deport foreign nationals who support Hamas, a U.S. designated terrorist group, if he’s elected president in 2024.
This week the Florida governor’s press secretary, Bryan Griffin, announced: “SJP chapters TERMINATED at Florida universities.” SJP is an acronym for Students for Justice in Palestine.
SJP chapters TERMINATED at Florida universities:
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) October 24, 2023
"Based on the National SJP’s support of terrorism, in consultation with Governor DeSantis, the student chapters must be deactivated." 👏https://t.co/hptTEHE7xt
The SJP chapters haven’t been terminated yet, but the Chancellor of the State University System of Florida, Ray Rodrigues, wrote a letter (in consultation with DeSantis) calling for the deactivation of National Students for Justice in Palestine at the state universities.
[Note: According to Rodrigues, the State University System of Florida has at least two institutions with active National SJP Chapters.]
The letter claims National SJP published a “toolkit” that equates the Hamas attacks with the Palestinian resistance, asserting “across land, air, and sea, our people have broken down the artificial barriers of the Zionist entity.” The toolkit, containing guidelines for global protests, says that “Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement.”
The toolkit includes incendiary language, referencing “armed struggle” and calling it “necessary”:
“Liberation is not an abstract concept. It is not a moment circumscribed to a revolutionary past as it is often characterized. Rather, liberating colonized land is a real process that requires confrontation by any means necessary …. It calls upon us to engage in meaningful actions that go beyond symbolism and rhetoric. Resistance comes in all forms — armed struggle, general strikes, and popular demonstrations. All of it is legitimate, and all of it is necessary.”
Rodrigues claims SJP campus demonstrations “delve beyond protected First Amendment speech into harmful support for terrorist groups,” and warns student members that it is a “felony under Florida law to knowingly provide material support … to a designated foreign terrorist organization.”
The letter also warns school administrators that those who support SJP chapters could face suspension. It reads: “These measures could include necessary adverse employment actions and suspensions for school officials.”
