DeSantis Slams Anti-Israel Protests On Roads And In Colleges

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has put forward a strong stance against the anti-Israel protests and the harassment of Jews on college campuses. At a press conference on Friday, he made it clear that he will not tolerate such acts in his state.

He first began with pro-Palestinian demonstrations in which protesters disrupted traffic and blocked bridges in places like New York City, California, Chicago and San Francisco.

“You think about what happened when you have these Hamas demonstrators out. They’re taking over bridges and they’re taking over roads. First of all, you don’t have a right to do that. You have someone get stuck in traffic … someone may need to get to a hospital, someone may need to pick up a child somewhere, and you’re just gonna commandeer the road because you have this ideological predilection?” he said.

Pointing to a swiftly-curbed attempt at such protests in Florida, DeSantis added, “They tried to do that in Miami and what happened? In 10 minutes, they got dragged off the road where they belong. And we are not gonna tolerate that.”

Going on to criticize the anti-Semitic demonstrations that have gone on in college campuses such as Columbia University since last week, the governor pointed out the absurdity of the situation, given that the protesters are basically expressing support for the terrorist group Hamas.

“Some of the stuff with the Hamas, I think, is absurd that someone would go out and demonstrate on that. But when you’re chasing Jewish students around, when you’re not letting a Jewish professor enter a building, when you’re targeting people like that, that’s not free speech. I mean, that’s harassment, that violates appropriate conduct,” he said.

“And yet at Columbia, at Yale, all these places, those guys, those folks rule the roost. They do whatever they want, and these administrators and the presidents of these universities are weak, they’re scared, and they don’t do anything. You know, you do that in Florida at our universities, we’re showing you the door, you’re gonna be expelled when you’re doing that stuff. And you know what? The minute people start to face consequences, you are not gonna see this nonsense going on,” he added.

At places like Columbia and Yale, Hamas protesters rule the roost, and the universities are too weak and scared to do anything—even as these mobs harass Jewish students and faculty.

If you try that at a Florida university, you are going to be expelled. pic.twitter.com/pY1VkoiTwn

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 25, 2024

DeSantis’ remarks come as the anti-Israel protests at Columbia University have grown into a full-blown crisis, forcing the school to cancel in-person classes for the rest of the semester.