Pro-Palestinian college activists harassed a journalist covering their protest, allegedly demanding to know her ethnicity, as tensions on US campuses continue to rise 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 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus.
“As I was leaving, two guys kept asking me about my ethnicity,” she said tweeted on Thursday. ‘When I got into my car I was approached by a group of the protesters who demanded to know my address and phone number.’
The aggressive exchange comes as pro-Palestine groups across America have sparked anger over their support for Hamas’ brutal attack that killed 1,300 Israelis, with tempers flaring on the other side as Israel launches retaliatory sieges on the Gaza Strip.
Dillon shared footage of a hostile confrontation where she was repeatedly asked to identify herself for ‘legal reasons’
Video journalist Kassy Dillon claimed that anti-Israel protesters demanded to know her ethnicity while she was covering their protest
Pro-Palestine students march on the campus of the University of Massachusetts
Hostile protests led by Israeli and Palestinian supporters erupt across university campuses
Dillon shared footage of the aftermath of the alleged confrontation, where the college activists are seen demanding her number.
“You can’t have my number,” Dillon shot back.
One of the protesters asks her if she can contact the reporter for ‘legal reasons’, to which Dillon responds: ‘There are no legal reasons to do that… I gave you my name, you can go look it up.’
Another activist, who also appears to have recorded the hostile interaction, then joins in with demands that the reporter repeat her name.
Kassy Dillon was previously the US news editor for Jewish News Syndicate and worked for Nikki Haley
“I’ll get my lawyers in touch, okay?” adds the protester. “Have a terrible night.”
Dillon said she had two security guards with her at the protest, and said she was “just filming” and “didn’t even talk to anybody who followed me to the garage.”
The journalist, who was previously the US news editor for 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’ rally poster was accompanied by a caption that read: ‘All out for Palestine. Be there this Thursday. Meet outside the student union with keffiyehs, flags and placards.
“We will march in solidarity with Palestinians breaking out of their open air prison.”
Dillon shared a flyer advertising the anti-Israel protest, which declared “solidarity with Palestinians breaking out of their open-air prison.”
Some students across the country have drawn backlash after showing support for Palestine in the wake of the brutal Hamas attack
After the protest at the U.Mass campus, Dillon shared footage purporting to show activists threatening her with legal action
The anti-Israel protest was opposed 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 think is just terrible,” said Olive, a Jewish college student. Fox News.
“This is a massacre of innocent civilians, and it should be strongly condemned, and instead they are here to celebrate it.”
Counter-protester Hakan, a pro-Palestinian protester, objected when he claimed it was a ‘very peaceful protest’ that had been marred by ‘some people (who) came to try to make a scene’. ‘
“Palestine will be free,” he added.
“They are supporting a terrorist organization,” retorted Milana, another participant in the violent rally. “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 sprung up 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 hold anti-Israel protests.
California State University’s La Fuerza Student Association has been slammed for its ‘sickening’ and distasteful pro-Palestine protest poster (pictured) depicting a paraglider
Republican Josh Hawley called on the Justice Department to investigate pro-Palestinian student groups on college campuses
Students at the University of Washington and Georgetown University were among those who gathered to praise the terrorists, with a Harvard group sparking widespread outrage when they blamed Israel for the attack.
California State University’s La Fuerza Student Association also came under fire for a ‘sickening’ pro-Palestine prostration depicting a paraglider, a method used by Hamas terrorists to enter a music festival on Saturday before at least killed 260 people.
Speaking on Fox News Thursday, the Missouri senator slammed organizations at Ivy League schools like Harvard and Columbia, which supported the terrorists’ actions as justified.
‘(Hamas) would kill every Jew in the world if they could. This is what these terrorists want. And to be silent in the face of it or to celebrate it like these crazy student groups are doing?” 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 that are infiltrating our campuses?
“I mean, it’s crazy stuff we see on these campuses. And for these administrators to reach out to take federal money, taxpayer money, and at the same time remain silent or condone this kind of terrorism, it’s just grotesque.’