Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference at the University of Florida Wednesday where he denounced the pro-Palestine protests and encampments in universities across the country.
"We don't do that in the state of Florida," DeSantis said.
As protests take place at universities across the country in support of Palestine, DeSantis mentioned there had been an attempt to protest and encampment at UF, but it was taken down in "a couple of minutes."
Nine people were arrested in April at a protest at the University of Florida and three others at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
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"You don't have the right to take over parts of the university... You don't have the right to go after other students based on their ethnicity," said DeSantis.
The governor criticized the ones protesting arguing they "have not studied the history of this."
"Some of these elite institutions around the country, they’re just graduating a bunch of imbeciles," said Desantis.
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"There was never a Palestinian state," said DeSantis during the conference as people could be heard chanting behind the cameras “Free Palestine” and “Shame.”
"When you're talking about from the river to the sea, you're essentially saying you want a second holocaust," said DeSantis. "That is what Hamas stands for... so when you see that that is not what we want to be producing in terms of leaders around this country."
DeSantis announced he will sign off on an additional $20 million to continue support for Jewish day schools and he will be approving almost $570 million in K-12 student funding.
The governor went on to mention a bill he signed earlier this week that will increase security in schools and how he is determined to maintain focus on academic rigor, the pursuit of truth and "won't let the inmates run the asylum in the sunshine state."
