Who is Kassy Dillon? Fox News reporter allegedly accosted by pro-Palestinian protesters at UMass who wanted to know her ethnicity
AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS: Kassy Dillon, a video journalist with Fox News, was recently accosted by pro-Palestine college activists, who allegedly harassed her for covering their protests and demanded to know her ethnicity.
Dillon, who previously worked for GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, claimed that she was targeted by the activists as she left an anti-Israel protest at the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts.
Dillon, the founder and former president of Lone Conservative, previously served as US news editor for Jewish News Syndicate. She is also known for her contributions to US Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley’s organization called Stand For America, according to Ynet News.
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She graduated with a BA in Middle Eastern studies and international relations from Mount Holyoke College and an MPP with a focus on American politics from Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy.
Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, the Daily Wire, and the Washington Examiner.
Trying to share as many stories as possible. pic.twitter.com/7hSq2zCqW6
— Kassy Dillon (@KassyDillon) October 11, 2023
Why Kassy Dillon was accosted by pro-Palestinian protestors?
On October 13, Dillon tweeted, “Just left the anti-Israel protest at UMass Amherst. As I was leaving, two guys kept asking me my ethnicity. When I got into my car, I was approached by a group of protesters demanding to know my address and phone number.”
Just left the anti-Israel protest at UMass Amherst. As I was leaving, two guys kept asking me my ethnicity. When I got into my car, I was approached by a group of the protesters demanding to know my address and phone number.
— Kassy Dillon (@KassyDillon) October 12, 2023
She later posted a video of the aftermath of the alleged confrontation, where campus activists can be seen demanding her phone number. “You can not have my number,” Dillon fires back in the video.
One of the protestors asked whether she could contact the reporter for 'legal reasons', to which Dillon responded, “There are no legal reasons to do it... I gave you my name, you can go look it up.”
Then, a second activist came in, demanding the reporter to repeat her name again as she appeared to record the exchange.
Here’s footage of the end of it once I grabbed my phone from my bag. You can hear me responding that they cannot have my number. pic.twitter.com/A2XGurJ4ti
— Kassy Dillon (@KassyDillon) October 12, 2023
“I'll have my lawyers contact you that way, okay?” the protestor states, adding, “Have a terrible night.”
The journalist claimed that she had two security guards with her at the protest, and she was "just filming" and '"didn't even speak to anyone who followed me to the garage."
She also posted an Instagram promotion of the protest, which was posted by the university's 'Students for Justice in Palestine' group, according to Daily Mail.
This is what I was covering btw. I was just filming. I didn’t even speak to anyone who followed me to the garage.
— Kassy Dillon (@KassyDillon) October 13, 2023
“Breaking out of their open-air prison.” pic.twitter.com/c5Vl35dlA3
“All out for Palestine. Be there this Thursday. Meet outside the student union with keffiyehs, flags, and posters. We will be marching in solidarity with Palestinians breaking out of their open-air prison” the group wrote along with the 'day of resistance' rally poster.
Pro-Palestinian protests across the United States
Supporters of Israel and Palestine are demonstrating across the United States in the wake of the deadly attacks and the retaliatory action taken by Israel in the hours after.
Students from Georgetown University and the University of Washington were among those who gathered to demonstrate solidarity with Palestine, with a Harvard group inciting public indignation by blaming Israel for the Hamas attack.
La Fuerza Student Association at California State University has also come under fire over a "sickening" pro-Palestine poster depicting a paraglider, a method used by Hamas terrorists to enter a music festival on Saturday before massacring at least 260 people.