By: Mary Margaret Olohan, The Daily Signal
President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled a new plan Monday to combat the “alarming” rise in antisemitic rhetoric and violence on college campuses since the brutal Hamas attacks on Israel.
Across the nation, pro-Palestinian students (often affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine groups) have held protests that support the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel and call for the “liberation” of Palestine.
The Daily Signal’s footage on the ground shows that many of these student protesters call the Hamas terrorists, who died attacking Israel and slaughtering civilians, “martyrs,” while others call for an end to Israel and for Palestine to be liberated “from the river to the sea.”
Both the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are collaborating with campus law enforcement throughout the country in order to combat antisemitism, NBC News reported. Authorities, including cybersecurity and protective security experts at DHS, will be tracking “hate-related rhetoric,” according to the publication.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff will meet with top Jewish organizations to discuss how to handle growing antisemitism on college campuses, NBC News reported.
The publication noted that the White House also seeks to highlight that the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights’ complaint form will emphasize that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids certain kinds of antisemitism and Islamophobia.
The White House did not immediately address whether authorities will be specifically looking into Students for Justice in Palestine groups.
Numerous Republican lawmakers have condemned antisemitic protests and called for consequences for those who align with Hamas.
Last week, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that he had ordered two state universities to deactivate their Students for Justice in Palestine chapters for violating Florida’s laws against antisemitism—specifically, for publicly aligning with the Hamas terror attacks on Israel.
State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues wrote a letter to university presidents, referencing the National Students for Justice in Palestine toolkit, which refers to the Hamas attack (dubbed “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” by Hamas) as “the resistance.”
“Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement,” the toolkit specifically states, as The Daily Signal previously reported.
Rodrigues reminds the universities that it is a felony under Florida law to “knowingly provide material support … to a designated foreign terrorist organization” and that “National SJP has affirmatively identified it is part of the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood—a terrorist led attack.”
“Based on the National SJP’s support of terrorism, in consultation with Governor DeSantis, the student chapters must be deactivated,” Rodrigues said, referencing SJP groups at the University of Florida and the University of South Florida.
“These two student chapters may form another organization that complies with Florida state statutes and university policies,” he added. “The two institutions should grant these two chapters a waiver for the fall deadlines, should reapplication take place.”
