Ron DeSantis thinks that pro-Palestine groups on college campuses should be banned and claims allowing them to continue would lead to the end of the U.S.
The Florida governor has led the calls from Republicans for any foreign students who exhibit pro-Hamas sentiments to be stripped of their visas and sent out of the country.
‘Are we just going to commit suicide as a country and let groups metastasize who are openly siding with terrorist organizations?’ DeSantis questioned during an interview with NBC Meet the Press on Sunday morning.
Fellow 2024 Republican contender Vivek Ramaswamy says DeSantis’ calls for banning pro-Palestine groups violate these students’ First Amendment rights and feeds into ‘cancel culture.’
But DeSantis has pushed back against this narrative.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the U.S. would he ‘committing suicide’ if it allows pro-Palestine groups to remain on college campuses
WATCH: @RonDesantis called for the ban of a pro-Palestinian group from state colleges. Vivek Ramaswamy says that’s akin to cancel culture.
DeSantis: “Are we just going to commit suicide as a country and let groups metastasize who are openly siding with terrorist organizations?” pic.twitter.com/FYDjYWZIuH
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 29, 2023
‘This is not cancel culture,’ DeSantis said on Sunday, adding: ‘It’s not a First Amendment issue, it’s a material support to terrorism issue.’
Florida has a law against any group providing support for terrorist organizations, which DeSantis claims the pro-Palestine organizations are doing because they have not only voiced their support, but have aligned themselves with Hamas terrorists.
Hamas terrorists invaded Israel earlier this month in a multi-front attack that led to the largest single-day massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust.
So far, 1,400 Israeli people died in the conflict, and thousands others were killed in Gaza, which includes both Hamas terrorists and civilians being used as shields by the brutal group.
U.S. officials confirm that upwards of 30 Americans were killed in the conflict, as well, and there are about a dozen missing and presumed to be held hostage in Gaza.
Meanwhile, pro-Palestine demonstrations have popped up all over the U.S.
DeSantis said the pro-Palestine groups in the U.S. have linked themselves to Hamas terrorists that invaded Israel earlier this month
But Republicans claim these groups are linking themselves to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization and the de facto government of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
DeSantis has specifically stated that while people try to separate Palestinians from Hamas, they are one in the same because the people voted this group to power.
He also says that pro-Palestine groups on campuses have made the link to Hamas.
‘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,’ DeSantis told NBC host Kristen Welker.
‘Yeah, you have a right to go out and demonstrate, but you can’t provide material support to terrorism. They link themselves to Hamas,’ he added.
‘They should not get one red cent of taxpayer dollars.’