Five Stanford University students who faced felony charges and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution have had all charges dropped following a two-year legal battle stemming from a protest against Israel's war on Gaza. The students had been charged with felony conspiracy to trespass and felony vandalism after a June 2024 occupation of the university president's office, during which they demanded Stanford divest from Israel; a subsequent trial ended in a hung jury, and the original prosecutor was later removed from the case over a conflict of interest. Under a resolution reached with California's attorney general's office, the charges were dropped in exchange for 100 hours of community service and a collective restitution payment of roughly $50,000 — far below the $1 million initially threatened — with two defendants describing the outcome as a rejection of efforts to criminalise speech in support of Palestinians.