Snopes is absolutely right and I never believed the claims of mass conversion to Islam.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ucla-students-converting-to-islam

But, there is religion occurring here. It is a religion of leftist ID politics. That bowing and praying is a reflection of the honoring of the group defined as oppressed - the Palestinians. Think of the ritualistic way many such individuals proclaim the Native lands or use pronouns.

I know I will get pushback of people saying they are trying to be respectful and nobody thinks that one rationale applies to every single person. But there is a ritualistic aspect to the way leftist ID political activists perform certain activities and attempt to proselytize others to accept their beliefs.

Once we look at the leftist ID political movement as a religious movement as well as a political movement then some of the actions of the participants make more sense. And yes you can see this on the right as well, but there is a ton of attention to the religious nature of Trump worship but little attention to this.