Pro-Palestinian college activists harassed a journalist covering their protest and reportedly demanded to know her ethnicity, as tensions continue to escalate on American campuses in the wake of the Middle East conflict.
Kassy Dillon, a video journalist at Fox News, said she was targeted after leaving an anti-Israel protest on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus.
“As I was leaving, two guys kept asking me about my ethnicity,” she says tweeted Thursday. “As I got into my car, I was approached by a group of protesters demanding my address and phone number.”
The aggressive exchange comes as pro-Palestinian groups across America sparked outrage over their support for Hamas’ brutal attack that killed 1,300 Israelis, while tempers flared on the other side as Israel launched retaliatory sieges on the Gaza Strip.
Dillon shared footage of a hostile confrontation in which she was repeatedly asked to identify herself for “legal reasons.”
Video journalist Kassy Dillon claimed that anti-Israel protesters demanded her ethnicity while covering their demonstration
Pro-Palestinian students march on the campus of the University of Massachusetts
Hostile protests by Israeli and Palestinian supporters have erupted on college campuses
Dillon shared footage of the aftermath of the alleged confrontation, with university activists demanding her number.
“You can’t have my number,” Dillon fires back.
One of the protesters asks her to contact the reporter for “legal reasons,” to which Dillon responds, “There are no legal reasons to do it… I gave you my name, you can go look it up .’
Another activist, who also appeared to capture the hostile interaction, then joins in demanding that the reporter repeat her name.
Kassy Dillon was previously the U.S. news editor for Jewish News Syndicate and worked for Nikki Haley
“I’ll have my lawyers contact you that way, okay?” the protester adds. “Having a terrible night.”
Dillon said she had two security guards with her at the protest, saying she was “just filming” and “didn’t even talk to anyone who followed me to the garage.”
The journalist, who was previously the US news editor for the Jewish News Syndicate and worked for Nikki Haley, also posted an Instagram promotion of the protest, which was posted by the university’s ‘Students for Justice in Palestine’ group.
The ‘Day of Resistance’ demonstration poster was captioned: ‘All out for Palestine. Be there this Thursday. Meet outside the student union with keffiyehs, flags and posters.
“We will march in solidarity with the Palestinians who are escaping from their open-air prison.”
Dillon shared a flyer advertising the anti-Israel protest, declaring ‘solidarity with the Palestinians breaking out of their open-air prison’
Some students across the country have sparked backlash after showing their support for Palestine in the wake of the brutal Hamas attack
After the protest on the U.Mass campus, Dillon shared footage purporting to show activists threatening her with legal action
The anti-Israel protest was met on campus by pro-Israel activists, who said they were disgusted by the language used by those who supported Hamas’ barbaric attacks over the past week.
“I was overwhelmed by how many people came out to support what I find terrible,” said Olive, a Jewish student. Fox news.
“It is a mass murder of innocent civilians, and it must be strongly condemned, and instead they are celebrating it here.”
Counter-protester Hakan, a pro-Palestinian demonstrator, responded, claiming it was a “very peaceful protest” marred by “some people (who) came to try to make a scene.”
“Palestine will be free,” he added.
“They support a terrorist organization,” responded Milana, another participant in the fierce demonstration. ‘They do not support Palestinians who want peace with Israel. They support a deep-seated hatred of Jews. It’s unfair.’
Similarly, antagonistic protests have emerged across the country, leading Republican Senator Josh Hawley to call on the Justice Department to investigate pro-Palestinian student groups on college campuses after they staged anti-Israel protests.
California State University’s La Fuerza Student Association has been criticized for its “sickening” and distasteful pro-Palestinian protest poster (pictured) depicting a paraglider
Republican Josh Hawley has called on the Justice Department to investigate pro-Palestinian student groups on college campuses
Students from the University of Washington and Georgetown University were among those who gathered to praise the terrorists, with a Harvard group causing widespread outrage when it blamed Israel for the attack.
California State University’s La Fuerza Student Association has also come under fire for a “sickening” pro-Palestinian protester using a paraglider, a method used by Hamas terrorists to enter a music festival on Saturday before at least 260 people were slaughtered.
Speaking on Fox News on Thursday, the Missouri senator denounced organizations at Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Columbia that have supported the terrorists’ actions as justified.
“(Hamas) would kill every Jew in the world if they could. That’s what these terrorists want. And to be quiet about that, or to celebrate it like these crazy student groups do?,” Hawley told Sean Hannity.
“What I want to know, Sean, is who is funding these student groups? I hope the DOJ investigates where the money came from. Are there terrorist groups that are part of these networks and infiltrating our campuses?
“I mean, these are crazy things we’re seeing on these campuses. And for these administrators to reach out to take federal and taxpayer money while simultaneously remaining silent or tacitly condoning this type of terrorism is simply grotesque.”
