Gaza and Charities at War: The National Students For Justice in Palestine
Bullies have an inner insatiable desire for attention and affirmation, and they will abuse any convenient weaker person to get what they want. A bully will disregard or violate any rule of civil society, no matter how sacred. Bullies all do the same thing. They identify and then remorselessly victimize weaker people who are apparently without allies. They pounce only when they are pretty sure nobody will defend their victim. Not necessarily because bullies don’t like their victims. Victims are just convenient to the bully’s need to satisfy some narcissistic trait.
Down here in DeSantistan, the Governor has found a weak nonprofit with few apparent allies to assist his failing cowboy boot wearing minstrel run for President. He’s gotta be hoping the organization files suit. By kicking this group out of a state university for its rhetorical support of Hamas, DeSantis is literally begging for the attention a lawsuit would bring. That must be the reason the Governor has once again wiped his backside with the Constitution right there on the side of the road where everybody can see. The hyperbole is entirely justified, I’m afraid. Be mad at him, not me.
Oh, he hasn’t exactly suspended the great writ just yet, but he is acting according to a script much older than the civil war. Last week, he literally “banned” the National Students for Justice in Palestine from all state universities. He said that the Charity provides “material support” to Hamas. His proof? Well, sensing an opportunity to look tough as bullies are wont, the Governor had his eager staff scour the NSJP’s website. There they found a statement asserting that “Palestinian students in exile” are invariably part of the Hamas resistance movement. Then staff went to the statutes and found a law prohibiting the provision of “material support to a designated terrorist organization.” And on that basis, the Governor ordered the “deactivation” of two local NSJP chapters. I kinda doubt IRS or DOJ will get involved. Those offices gotta enforce the law and they tend to respect the Constitution. Here is the gist of the Governor’s directive:
Hamas is responsible for this attack and claims it as “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.” In the wake of this terror, military leaders of Hamas have called for the mobilization of Palestinians in support of the Operation.iv In response, and leading up to a “Day of Resistance,” the National Students for Justice in Palestine (National SJP) released a “toolkit” which refers to Al-Aqsa Flood as “the resistance” and unequivocally states: “Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement.”
It is a felony under Florida law to “knowingly provide material support . . . to a designated foreign terrorist organization. . .” § 775.33(3), Fla. Stat. (2019). Here, National SJP has affirmatively identified it is part of the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood—a terrorist led attack. The State University System of Florida has at least two institutions with active National SJP Chapters. These chapters exist under the headship of the National Students for Justice in Palestine, who distributed a toolkit identifying themselves as part of the Operation AlAqsa Flood. Based on the National SJP’s support of terrorism, in consultation with Governor DeSantis, the student chapters must be deactivated.
Darryll k. jones