NEW YORK, NY – New York City Mayor Adams was the first public figure in the city to ask the question. Who is buying all of these identical tents being used in the New York City pro-intifada/Hamas upsrisings and violent takeovers at American universities?
Some speculate it is left-wing financier George Soros. Others speculate it’s the DNC, Black Lives Matter, Hamas, ISIS, Iran, or some other nefarious nation.
It turns out, the identical tents seen on campus are just the camping variant of Ramen noodles. They’re super cheacp.
NA range of figures, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams, law enforcement personnel, right-wing media outlets, and far-right extremists, are promoting a conspiracy theory without evidence, suggesting that Jewish Hungarian billionaire George Soros or another shadowy group is financially supporting pro-Palestinian student protests at U.S. universities.
This theory perpetuates the antisemitic notion of a puppet master orchestrating events behind the scenes.
This speculation has been fueled by observations that many students at universities like NYU and Columbia have used tents of the same color, make, and model at their protest sites. However, the explanation for the uniformity of the tents is their affordability and availability, not covert funding. According to the online publication Hell Gate NYC, the tents used in these protests are inexpensive and readily available from retailers like Five Below and Walmart, with prices ranging from $15 to $28. The tents are also easily found via top results on Google searches and Amazon, where one popular model, the green Camel Crown tent, is listed for $35 and tagged as a best-selling item with options for one-day shipping.
Simply because students bought cheap tents at Five Below doesn’t mean the protests were organized by well known political instigators. It’s also not to say that some of the protesters are receiving payment to purchase the tents.