Palestine

Students taking part in a hunger strike gathered in the Marshall Student Center lobby in Tampa ahead of the USF Board of Trustees meeting Monday.

More than two dozen USF students gathered outside the Tampa campus library. They plan to hold a hunger strike unless school leaders meet their demands.

A federal judge Friday heard arguments in lawsuits filed by pro-Palestine student groups against the state, alleging First Amendment violations.

To draw attention to the global strike for Palestinians in Gaza, multiple campus organizations came together to hold a walk-out and “die-in.”

Groups like the Bay Area Dream Defenders are calling for leaders to cut off funding to Israel and support a ceasefire. They also want the Tampa Bay Palestinian community — one of the largest in Florida — to be heard.

“Free, Free Palestine” was chanted as a few dozen people marched on downtown Fort Myers Saturday evening in solidarity with the Palestinian People. Their route wound around the downtown streets before returning to the Library at sunset for Maghrib prayer.

The lawsuit says out students' right to gather "is a fundamental precursor to their political and ideological expression.”

An equal number say Israel's response to Hamas' attack has either been too much or about right. A majority of Democrats now say it's been too much, driven by people of color and younger respondents.

Last week, students and organizers held a protest on the canon green at The University of West Florida in support of a ceasefire in Palestine.

He faces two misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief involving the incident at Alpha Epsilon Pi.

Pro-Palestinian rights groups called for cease fire in front of Real-Time Laboratories in Boca Raton, a U.S. subsidiary of Elbit Systems, Israel's largest weapons manufacturer.

At a meeting Thursday, State University System of Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues said Students for Justice in Palestine chapters at USF and UF remain active.