Legal groups call Florida ban on pro-Palestine student orgs unconstitutional amid funding concerns

Legal groups say Florida's decision to ban Students for Justice in Palestine chapters at state schools is unconstitutional, while other organizations are at the same time questioning the murky funding surrounding the student groups. 

State University System of Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues said that after consulting Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, all Students for Justice in Palestine chapters needed to be deactivated "based on the National SJP's support for terrorism," which he said violates Florida law, which, similar to U.S. law, makes it illegal to "knowingly provide material support ... to a designated foreign terrorist organization." 

Hamas, the U.S. State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization that runs the Gaza Strip, on Oct. 7 launched what it calls Operation Al Aqsa Flood, killing more than 1,400 people, including women, children and the elderly as well as at least 31 U.S. citizens in Israel. The EU has also labelled Hamas a "terrorist" organization.

The National Students for Justice in Palestine released a "Day of Resistance" toolkit for student chapters that appears to have been published on Oct. 8 That material said the so-called "Al Aqsa Flood" was "a historic win for the Palestinian resistance: across land, air, and sea, our people have broken down the artificial barriers of the Zionist entity, taking with it the facade of an impenetrable settler colony and reminding each of us that total return and liberation to Palestine is near."

The toolkit also states, "Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement," and it features example posters with images of Palestinians standing on top of Israeli tanks that they allegedly took over, as well as pictures of people paragliding, reflecting the method the terrorists used to enter a music festival for peace and murder hundreds of concertgoers.

Two public Florida schools have SJP chapters, one at the University of Florida and another at Florida International University.

However, legal groups argue that voicing support for Palestine does not qualify as terrorism. 

"There’s no indication from the chancellor’s letter that any action from Florida’s Students for Justice in Palestine groups went beyond expression fully protected by the First Amendment," the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, known as FIRE, said on X, formerly Twitter.

FIRE attorney Adam Steinbaugh told Just the News that providing material support to a terrorist organization "requires something more than abstract advocacy, or trying to engender or trying to sway public opinion."

Steinbaugh said: "Even if the ultimate effect or even the goal would be to sway public opinion in favor of a terrorist organization – and I think that a number of people would dispute that's the goal here, but even if that's the effect, that's still protected speech." 

The Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that a person or group could provide "material support" for terrorism through speech, but only under the "narrow category of speech to, under the direction of, or in coordination with foreign groups that the speaker knows to be terrorist organizations."

The chancellor's letter does not give any indication that SJP worked directly with Hamas, which could violate the law.

The group Palestine Legal said it did not have the ability to give interviews at this time, but directed Just the News to its statement pledging to take legal action against Florida's decision. 

"Under this regime, which has only survived constitutional challenge because of pervasive fearmongering and Islamophobia within our legal system, independent protests and organizing in support of Palestinian rights do not constitute 'material support for terrorism,'" Palestine Legal said. "This is a blatant attack on students’ First Amendment rights, and it will be challenged in court."

The Supreme Court affirmed in 1972 that college students have a right to form groups, and if schools refuse to recognize the groups then it may violate the First Amendment. In that case, Healy v. James, Justice Powell noted that colleges could only prohibit students’ associational activities that would “infringe reasonable campus rules, interrupt classes, or substantially interfere with the opportunity of other students to obtain an education,” and that schools may impose reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on student speech and also require that groups seeking official recognition agree in advance to conform to “reasonable campus law.”

Providing "material support" for terror, meanwhile, is frequently done through financial contributions. 

Prof. Gerald Steinberg, the president of the Israeli-based watchdog the NGO Monitor, told Just the News that it is important to follow the money in this situation. 

"For many years, SJP has been a primary source of hate and antisemitism on US campuses. In addition to holding them accountable for these immoral actions, it is important to expose their sources of funding. These are largely hidden and there is a high probability that foreign sources and governments are involved," Steinberg said in an email.

Numerous foreign entities are highly involved in giving funding to Palestinian causes. For example, Hamas receives backing from Iran and Qatar, and the United Nations, in a more indirect form of support, has employed teachers for Palestinian children who praise Hamas and call for the murder of Jews.

National SJP claims to have more than 200 affiliated organizations across the United States. The student chapters claim to be legally independent from the national group, and their funding disclosure requirements vary campus by campus.

National SJP, however, is not currently registered as a nonprofit, which makes it "very difficult to know anything about its fundraising prowess and financial relations with other non-profits," Ryan Mauro, an investigative researcher with the nonprofit Capital Research Center, told Just the News via email.

Mauro, a counter-extremism specialist, said that DeSantis "has a reasonable case to argue that the Students for Justice in Palestine chapters are morally supporting terrorism," and he said the student group was "inciting violence and hatred" through its actions.

SJP is an example of how NGOs can be used to support terrorists and allow bad actors to plausibly deny operations by shifting money around the world, he also said.

"DeSantis will have a more difficult time arguing that there is 'material' support to terrorism because SJP will say that politically supporting a terrorist group is protected free speech as long as it doesn’t cross the line into providing goods and services to Hamas, such as recruiting members for Hamas, plotting attacks in support of Hamas, or sending money or supplies to the group," Mauro said.

National SJP, the Anti-Defamation League and the State University System of Florida did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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