DeSantis' state universities chief disbanded a pro-Palestinian campus group across Florida — and hinted at felony charges

• Florida's state university system chief ordered a pro-Palestine group to disband.
• The ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis accused the National Students for Justice in Palestine group of supporting Hamas.

A Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ally overseeing the state's university system has ordered schools to disband their chapters of a pro-Palestinian group, alleging it supports Hamas and hinting at felony charges.

Florida's state university system chancellor Ray Rodrigues issued a memo on Tuesday saying that, after speaking with DeSantis, he was ordering any chapters of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group at state universities to be deactivated.

Rodrigues alleges that the National SJP supported Hamas' initial attacks on Israel by offering a toolkit to students that linked the militant operation to "the resistance" around the world. Rodrigues also raises the specter of a Florida law that makes it a felony to "knowingly provide material support . . . to a designated foreign terrorist organization."

The National SJP did not provide a comment to Insider, but shared a statement from the organization Palestine Legal and said that it "represents our views well."

Palestine Legal's statement says, in part, "Florida, particularly under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, has been actively undermining education, freedom of speech, and social justice movements, including by banning anti-racist courses and trying to criminalize protests. It is not surprising that this egregious move to silence the student movement for Palestinian rights is being pursued under DeSantis."

The statement said that the ban is a violation of students' First Amendment rights, and that Palestine Legal would be challenging it in court.

Rodrigues' memo states that there are at least two known SJP chapters at Florida state universities, but did not specifically name them.

Both the University of Florida and the University of South Florida have active chapters, a spokesperson for the State University System of Florida told Insider.

The National SJP's toolkit contextualizes Hamas' attacks on Israel, writing, "For over 75 years, our Palestinian people, through steadfast resistance, have waged a prolonged war for liberation and return to our colonized homeland."

The group's statement continues, "What we are witnessing now is a heightened stage of the Palestinian struggle–through tearing down colonial infrastructure and liberating our colonized land from illegal settlements and military checkpoints, our people are actualizing revolution."

Rodrigues doesn't make it clear what punishments the groups would face if they don't disband, but warned that any campus demonstrations that support "terrorist groups" could result in "necessary adverse employment actions and suspensions for school officials."