Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, on Sunday defended his call to ban pro-Palestinian groups from state colleges as Israel expanded its ground offensive in Gaza following Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7.
In an exclusive interview on “Meet the Press,” NBC News’ Kristen Welker asked DeSantis to respond to his Republican 2024 rival, Vivek Ramaswamy, who insisted that such a move would violate the First Amendment rights of the students. Ramaswamy, who trails DeSantis in polls, tweeted: “It’s a shameful political ploy. … It’s unconstitutional. It’s utter hypocrisy for someone who railed against left wing cancel culture.”
DeSantis pushed back on Ramaswamy’s comments: “This is not cancel culture.”
“This group, they themselves said, in the aftermath of the Hamas attack, that they don’t just stand in solidarity, that they are part of this Hamas movement,” he said. “And so, yeah, you have a right to go out and demonstrate, but you can’t provide material support to terrorism.”
He accused pro-Palestinian groups on campuses of having “linked themselves to Hamas.”
“And so we absolutely decertified them. They should not get one red cent of taxpayer dollars,” he said. “And we also have strong laws in Florida against fundraising for groups like Hamas, and we are enforcing those vigorously. It’s not a First Amendment issue. That’s a material support to terrorism issue.”
The war between Israel and the militant group Hamas has reignited debate in colleges and universities throughout the country, prompting protests and demonstrations on several campuses.
DeSantis last week ordered two state universities to deactivate chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine as they purportedly had violated state laws prohibiting antisemitism, according to the governor’s office.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
