Ramaswamy knocks DeSantis over shutdown of pro-Palestinian student groups

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday derided Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis's move to shut down pro-Palestinian student groups at state universities amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

In conjunction with the governor, the state university system on Tuesday moved to shut down chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) after the national group endorsed the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.

Appearing on Hill TV's "Rising" on Wednesday, Ramaswamy opined that "the answer to bad speech is not less speech, it is more speech. And I think it is wrong for us to silence those we disagree with."

"I don't think that’s the American way," he said of blacklisting students for their affiliations. "I don’t think that's productive and I don’t think we convince any of those people by browbeating them into submission through fear either."

The Sunshine State's move has further drawn scrutiny from civil rights groups, including the Florida ACLU, which accused the state of "simply silencing ideas it doesn't like" and deemed the effort unconstitutional.

The Oct. 7 Hamas raid saw terrorists seize roughly 200 hostages and inflict considerable civilian casualties. The incident has prompted counterstrikes on Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces in preparation for a possible ground assault. The conflict has further witnessed cross-border exchanges between Israel and its northern neighbors, Syria and Lebanon.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.