Florida universities can expel anti-Israel protesters, says DeSantis.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stated on Thursday that any protesters who engage in harassing, offensive or belligerent behavior against Israel on Florida college campuses could face expulsion.

Ivy League schools, including Columbia University, Harvard, and Yale, have experienced pro-Palestinian protesters taking over their campuses with encampments and intimidation towards the Jewish population. Additionally, schools such as Texas, USC, and the University of Minnesota have faced challenges, with Texas and USC collectively arresting over 100 people on Wednesday.

At a "Strengthening Florida" event on Thursday, DeSantis stated that pro-Palestinian demonstrators are "occupying bridges and roads."

DeSantis stated that you have no right to do that, and added that someone in a medical emergency might get stuck in unwarranted traffic at an inopportune time.

"You're going to take over the road because you have this [ideology] and someone needs to pick up a child somewhere?"

The governor retracted when a similar group attempted to do that in Miami, and "in 10 minutes they were removed from the road where they belonged."

"We will not tolerate that," DeSantis declared, prompting a round of applause from the audience.

DeSantis condemned the actions of demonstrators who support Hamas as "absurd." He stated that pursuing Jewish students and preventing Jewish professors from entering certain areas "isn't free speech. That's harassment. That violates appropriate conduct."

The governor claimed that anti-Israel protesters at Yale and Columbia have complete control and can act without consequences, while the university presidents are weak, scared, and ineffective in taking action.

"At our universities in Florida, we're showing you the door when you do that stuff. You're going to be expelled," he said. "And you know what? The minute people start to face consequences, this nonsense will stop."

DeSantis later tweeted his speech with this statement attached, echoing his earlier comments.

Hamas protesters dominate at universities like Columbia and Yale, and the institutions are too fearful to act, despite the mobs harassing Jewish students and faculty, as tweeted by DeSantis on Thursday.

"Attempting that at a Florida university will result in expulsion."

The three most populous campuses in the country are located in Florida, with the University of Central Florida having 68,442 students, the University of Florida having 60,795 students, and Florida International University in Miami having 55,687 students, according to the 2022-23 academic year enrollments.

This week, two Texas schools made it into the top 10, with Texas A&M University, the second-largest campus in the country with 74,869 students, hosting a small gathering of pro-Palestinian students who read to the crowd on the College Station campus to raise money for a family trapped in Gaza. No reported incidents of friction or arrests occurred.

In Austin at the University of Texas, a campus with 52,384 students, hundreds of anti-Israel protesters clashed with police and state troopers on Wednesday. As a result, 57 arrests were made, but 46 of those charges have already been dropped.