GAINESVILLE – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke Wednesday at the University of Florida, decrying ongoing pro-Palestinian demonstrations at U.S. college campuses, as protesters could be heard chanting nearby.
Speaking over chants of “Free, free Palestine,” DeSantis framed criticism of Israel — such as in the form of chants commonly heard at pro-Palestinian protests — as anti-Jewish.
“When you’re talking about ‘From the river to the sea,’ you’re essentially saying you want a second Holocaust, that you want to wipe Israel off the map, and that’s what Hamas stands for. That’s why Hamas perpetrated the Oct. 7 attack. So when you see that, you know, that is not what we want to be producing in terms of leaders around this country, and I also look at it and I’m like, ‘You know, how many of them actually have studied the history of this? Very few.’ They’re just doing this because they think it’s a cheap cause,” DeSantis said.
“The reality is, if you actually studied the history of this, you would be able to see there’s never been a Palestinian state. That was Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years, then the British Mandate, then the U.N. Partition Plan, and basically Israel accepted that and the Arabs rejected and they went to war and they lost, so we can talk about that, but I think a lot of these people that are just spouting nonsense, they don’t know what they’re talking about.”
UF President Ben Sasse referred to the protesting as nonsense, reassuring “the Floridians who pay our bills” that the university will uphold speech and assembly rights, as well as the law.
“Too much of higher education has been captured by a lot of nonsense over the course of the last weeks and that won’t happen at the University of Florida. To the law enforcement officers who have kept things peaceful, thank you. Your professionalism has been amazing. Over the course of the last two weeks in particular, you have been long-suffering, giving protesters the right to exercise their free speech rights, but also the opportunity to come into compliance with our time, place and manner restrictions. Our goal has not been to arrest, it has been to help people get into compliance with the law, and what you have done in the face of being spit on, being shouted at with profanities, has been amazing,” Sasse said.
“...To our Jewish students, UF is proud to be home to the most Jewish students anywhere in the country. This is the most Jewish university in the country and it is great to be a Jewish Gator.”
Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State University System of Florida, said it would be “shameful” for universities to come to agreements with any such protestors, calling it akin to “negotiating with law-breakers.”
“It is shameful to witness these universities negotiating with law-breakers, appeasing their demands, offering amnesty to the guilty and divesting their funds,” Rodrigues said.
The University of Florida in April notified students of what would, and would not, be tolerated during on-campus demonstrations. On April 29, nine people were arrested by UF police and the Florida Highway Patrol for alleged violations of those rules.
DeSantis also announced approval of a number of big-ticket items for the University of Florida in the upcoming 2024-25 budget. Included is $75 million for the new U-F Jacksonville campus, $80 million to fund a new U-F semiconductor institute, and $200 million in additional university programs and research.
And the governor said that he would approve millions for safety measures at public schools, Jewish Day Schools and the state's historically Black colleges and universities.
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