The Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has amplified and defended his call to ban pro-Palestinian groups from colleges in the state, rejecting claims by 2024 rival Vivek Ramaswamy that such restrictions were a “shameful political ploy” and “utter hypocrisy” that amounted to a violation of free-speech rights.
“This is not cancel culture,” DeSantis hit back in a interview on NBC’s Meet the Press before locking Palestinian rights supporters in with supporters of Hamas. DeSantis went on to claim that pro-Palestinian groups on state campuses had “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”.
