Last week the State of Florida became the first state to take action against student groups supporting Palestine. This comes in the wake of the October 7^th terrorist attacks against Israel, which resulted in the deaths of over 1400 Israelis in the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. The attacks were perpetuated by the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip in Southwestern Israel, in what they called “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”. Since the attacks, Israel has declared war, and after almost a month of airstrikes they are preparing for a full-scale ground offensive into Gaza to defeat Hamas. The White House has continued its traditional American policy of supporting Israel as possible, moving in 2 US Navy aircraft carrier strike groups to deter foreign powers from intervening in the conflict. 

However, the war has faced widespread backlash from notably young Americans across the country, with multiple universities overcome by protests in the opening week of the war. At USC in California, student protestors could be heard chanting “There is only one solution, intifada revolution,” per USC’s student paper The Daily Trojan. Intifada is an Arabic term referring to an uprising against oppression and has been used as a rallying cry for pro-Palestine activists. The term also describes the 1^st and 2^nd intifadas, general uprisings in the Palestinian West Bank that resulted in riots and terrorist attacks.  

Last week, the State of Florida became the first to take action against these student groups. On October 24^th, the Florida University System, at the direction of Governor Desantis, issued a memo to Florida universities ordering the deactivation of student charters of the group “Students for Justice in Palestine.” Following Israeli strikes into Gaza after the 10/7 attacks, Hamas called for a “Day of Rage,” and global protests against Israel. Per the memo, the SJP responded by releasing “…a “toolkit” which refers to Operation Al-Aqsa Flood as “the resistance” and unequivocally states: “Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement.” 

The issue with this statement is that it is a felony under Florida law to knowingly support terrorist acts. Per the memo, “It is a felony under Florida law to “knowingly provide material support . . . to a designated foreign terrorist organization. . .” § 775.33(3), Fla. Stat. (2019). Here, National SJP has affirmatively identified it is part of the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood—a terrorist led attack.” There are 2 state universities in the State of Florida that have SJP charters and have now been ordered to disband them. 

Of course, this action also comes with the direct support of Govenor Ron Desantis, who is currently running for the Republican nomination for the presidency. In a party with a historically pro-Israel stance, Desantis has adopted a hardline approach in his support of Israel, even going so far as to send military supplies to Israel, per the AP. 

Even outside of Florida, the SJP has faced a great deal of backlash for their support of Palestine. For its part, the SJP claims to be a student group whose stated goal is “to develop a student movement that is connected, disciplined, and equipped with the tools necessary achieve Palestinian liberation.” They are the leading student group in the US calling for boycotts and protests against Israel. 

However, they have been decried by several Jewish groups for supporting terrorism. The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs referred to the SJP as “a terror-affiliated anti-Semitic network that currently operates with autonomy and impunity at colleges and universities across the United States.” The Anti-Defamation League has stated that the group “explicitly endorsed the actions of Hamas and their armed attacks on Israeli civilians and voiced an increasingly radical call for confronting and “dismantling” Zionism on U.S. college campuses. Some SJP chapters issued pro-Hamas messaging and/or promoted violent anti-Israel messaging channels.”