Gov. A senior state official said on Wednesday that Ron DeSantis physically directed the Florida Highway Patrol’s reaction to the new anti-Palestinian school protests.
” On numerous occasions, regional and school rules enforcement has turned to the Florida Highway Patrol for assistance.” And on many other events, we have strategically assisted school and local law enforcement”, said Dave Kerner, senior director of the Florida Department of Safety and Motor Vehicles, which oversees the bridge guard.
” In all situations”, Kerner said,” these actions were taken at the manner of Gov. DeSantis”.
His remarks were made at a DeSantis news conference at the University of Florida school, which is located close to a location on the school natural where round-the-clock rallies have been taking position for 15 weeks. As DeSantis, Kerner and other leaders spoke in praise of Florida’s reaction to the rallies, activists had been heard singing.
DeSantis ‘ department and Kerner’s company did not respond last week to queries about the president’s involvement in the rally response. Kerner on Wednesday acknowledged the issues, saying his office was asked if the government was “personally” involved.
” The answer is yes”, he said.
The president’s office did not immediately respond when asked to expound on Kerner’s comment. How many colleges did his directives affect or how engaged he was with specific legislation enforcement strategies was it vague.
Last year, protests at UF, Florida State University, Florida State University, and University of North Florida resulted in the arrest of at least 37 activists. The , legislation enforcement reply at USF , included the use of tear gas.
There is a significant difference between Florida and many other state in this country, according to Kerner. ” This is very purposeful. Our governor wo n’t veer away from the shrill and illogical will of a super-minority member who is entitled and careless. He wo n’t tolerate the Florida Highway Patrol’s demise and the campus’s emergence into collectives of violence and anti-American and antisemitic dogma for a moment.
DeSantis thanked state institutions and law enforcement for their responses last month, saying that they were in comparison to “elite colleges and universities that allowed themselves to become overrun with camps, graffiti, and a lot of really nasty antisemitism.”
He cited his previous accomplishments, including funding for Jewish Day schools in Florida and funding for Jewish students seeking refugee transfers last year.
DeSantis claimed that he believed that many protesters were” spouting nonsense” without understanding history.
” It’s very concerning, some of these elite institutions around the country: Are they just graduating a bunch of imbeciles”? he said. ” I think unfortunately that’s the case. Many of these individuals wo n’t receive job offers because of this. You see even a lot of the big financial institutions, which are very liberal, are now saying we’re not going to be entertaining this nonsense anymore”.
DeSantis also cited Hamas as a source of inspiration for the protesters, and he also cited a chant that is frequently heard at protests across the state and nation,” From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
” Part of it is people can say what they want, but 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”, DeSantis said. ” That’s what Hamas stands for”.
Laila Fakhoury, a UF alumni and part of the UF Divest Coalition, was one of the protesters out Wednesday. She claimed that protesters could not hear what DeSantis had said because the barricades were set so far away from it, but she later learned it was “nonsense.”
Saying that is” just like a very classic tactic of trying to conflate the idea of antisemitism with criticizing a military, which is not antisemitic at all,” Fakhoury said. ” It’s more than just pro- Palestine or pro- Israel. It’s pro- human at the end of the day, and all of us are standing for humanity. So when we say chants like that,’ from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ it’s literally exactly what it sounds like: that Palestine will be free within our lifetime, and we’ll continue to keep standing up to advocate for that”.
DeSantis also questioned why protesters were n’t out after Hamas ‘ Oct. 7 attack that launched Israel’s military response.
” I’m sure the protesters were all very angry about the way Hamas murdered elderly people in very brutal ways, baked babies in ovens, and murdered children in Israeli communities,” he said. They must have been very upset about that, I assure you. Oh wait, no, they were n’t. That’s right. They did n’t care about that. They tolerated those massacres without any reservations. And that was unrelated to them.
He went on to say that Gaza was a Hamas” sanctuary” that focused on terrorism rather than more productive endeavors and that it was not occupied.
Fakhoury claimed that the governor ignored historical events because many of the protesters were Jews.
Also speaking at the news conference was Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State University System, who said Florida would continue to take a “law and order” approach to the protests.
He claimed that some universities have made” shameful” concessions to protesters, including removing charges against those who were detained during the demonstrations, opening new faculty positions for Palestinians, and creating a cultural center for Middle Eastern studies.
” In Florida, there will be no negotiations”, Rodrigues said. Under the administration of Governor, there wo n’t be any appeasement, amnesty, or divestment. DeSantis”.
Fakhoury, with the protest group, said the demonstrators would not be deterred. The goals of the protests, she said, go beyond how universities respond.
” It’s not the only thing that matters to us”, she said. Simply by standing out with our flags and keffiyehs and demonstrating to the public that we are not going to be silenced by these lies and the rhetoric they have been using, we are making a statement and a presence.
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