A recent incident at Queens College in New York City involving a fake protest encampment set up for a TV shoot resulted in a real reaction from pro-Palestinian activists. The CBS drama “FBI: Most Wanted” was filming an episode that featured a climate change protest on the college campus. The set included tents, sleeping bags, and handmade banners, similar to real protest encampments seen on college campuses in the U.S. and elsewhere this spring to protest Israel's actions in its war against Hamas.
Members of pro-Palestinian groups, Within Our Lifetime and Students for Justice in Palestine, organized a protest against the filming on the sidelines of the fictional one. The protesters called the film shoot “propaganda” and criticized the use of the campus as an attempt to profit from the student movement. The show's producers declined to comment, and Queens College stated that the campus community had been informed in advance about the focus of the TV shoot.
The demonstration led to the early wrap-up of filming on Monday and a return of about 15 protesters on Tuesday. While the protesters declined to speak to the media, they expressed their discontent through chants and flyers. The protest movement was part of a larger trend sparked by a demonstration at Columbia University that spread to various U.S. campuses, leading to arrests, disruptions, walkouts, and cancellations of events.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas was mentioned in the context of the protest movement, with the war beginning when Hamas militants attacked Israel, resulting in casualties on both sides. The situation in Gaza was also highlighted, with a significant number of Palestinian casualties reported. The incident at Queens College underscored the ongoing tensions and activism surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict on college campuses.