They were arrested for just being there. This is absolute bullshit. In the 90s, there was a protest camp there against the Gulf War that was there 24/7. I know because I was in it sometimes, helping to cook food and do other things to keep it a place to live in.
In the 80s, there was a semi-permanent shantytown there to protest South African apartheid.
This is utter bullshit.
I agree that we should all support a free and independent Palestine, but that’s not the game the American media is playing. All you have to do is look at “conservative” media to see the strategy play out. “Pro-palestine must mean anti-israel.”
But that doesn’t say ‘pro-Palestine?’
And I really don’t think that the IDS is part of this media machine you’re talking about considering the articles are written by students.