Amid pro-Palestine chants, DeSantis disses protests; says ‘There’s never been a Palestinian state’

Chants from pro-Palestinian protesters could be heard loudly at the University of Florida Wednesday as Gov. DeSantis was speaking at a press conference where he touted the lengths Florida has taken to stop people from building encampments on college campuses.

The protesters chanted “Free Palestine,” “We will not stop, we will not rest,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which the governor referred to as a call for a second Holocaust.

Much like his previous comments on the pro-Palestine protests that have taken place on university campuses across the nation for weeks, DeSantis bashed other states and universities outside of Florida for not taking swift action to take down the Gaza solidarity encampments and for canceling commencements.

“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 study 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 UN Partition Plan, and basically, Israel accepted that and the Arabs rejected it, 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.”

The governor did not take any questions at the news conference.

However, DeSantis announced his intention to approve funding in the 2024-2025 budget for security measures at Jewish day schools and Historically Black colleges and universities, and for the construction of a semiconductor institute and a UF Jacksonville campus.

So far in Florida, police have arrested pro-Palestine protesters at UF, Florida State University, University of South Florida and University of North Florida.

The governor, State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues and UF’s president Ben Sasse boasted that Florida’s commencement ceremonies started late last week and without disruption from protesters. Last Wednesday Rodrigues, the head of the umbrella organization that oversees Florida’s public higher education institutions, instructed university presidents to take any steps necessary to ensure that there wouldn’t be protests during commencement ceremonies.

“We also have seen graduations canceled as a result of this stuff that’s going on. That’s not happening here in the state of Florida. These graduations are really important parts of people’s lives,” DeSantis said. “It’s a major milestone for students. And for their families. And we’re not going to let malcontents ruin that for everybody else. So our graduations have gone on as scheduled without a hitch, and we directed that we are not going to let them be overrun by the nonsense.”

Rodrigues said there won’t be any negotiations with or amnesty given to protesters, and he criticized other universities outside of Florida for negotiating with the pro-Palestine demonstrators.

“Now many of these protesters have said they’ll be back in fall and they plan to pick up right where they’re leaving off. Well, when they return rest assured we will be here ready to continue to provide the highest quality education at the lowest price while maintaining law and order on our campuses,” Rodrigues said. “In Florida. There will be no negotiations. There will be no appeasement. There will be no amnesty, and there will be no divestment. Under Governor DeSantis, Florida will continue to lead by example.”

First Amendment advocacy groups and civil rights organizations such as UF’s president Ben Sasse, the ACLU of Florida and Florida’s NAACP, have criticized the universities’ response to the protests, stating that “the unnecessary use of force, and encroachments on students’ and faculty’s First Amendment rights,” in a letter sent to the state’s college and university presidents on Friday.

“The use and threat of force against peaceful protesters, including chemical weapons, is wholly inappropriate and dangerous,” the organizations wrote in the letter. “Bringing in local or state law enforcement in response to peaceful protest threatens student and community safety and has a chilling effect on expression. Thus far, the responses to the student protests also raise serious concerns about unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.”