Reporter harassed by anti-Israel mob speaks out: 'Creative ways to rebrand violence as resistance'
The Free Press journalist Olivia Reingold recounts being surrounded by anti-Israel agitators while reporting on protests outside an exhibit honoring October 7 victims.
An anti-Israel mob harassed a journalist in New York City earlier this week while she was covering a protest, causing her to file a police report after she says she was hit and shoved.
The Free Press reporter Olivia Reingold told "America Reports" on Wednesday she was swarmed by anti-Israel protesters who restricted her movement and told her she was a "‘genocide supporter.’"
The incident, Reingold wrote on social media, unfolded after a man in a Hezbollah headscarf pointed at her, shouting, "She’s a Zionist. Zionist scum!"
The Free Press reporter Olivia Reingold was harassed by anti-Israel protesters in Manhattan.
"The entire rally became about me. For some points, people were chanting my name. Instead of saying, ‘Israel, go to hell,’ which is also something they were chanting, they were chanting, ‘Olivia, go to hell.’ You know, my notebook was yanked from me, was torn up, thrown up in the air," Reingold told "America Reports."
She noted that the NYC protest started as a response to "what they call a massacre" in central Gaza earlier this weekend after the Israeli Defense Forces conducted an operation in the Nuseirat camp rescuing four hostages, and reportedly killing more than 200 Palestinians, according to the Associated Press.
"These protesters claim that they are anti-war, that they are for peace, and yet they find very creative ways to justify the violence of Hamas," Reingold said. "They find very creative ways to rebrand violence as resistance."
Protesters gather at Union Square in New York City to demonstrate against Israel's ongoing war in the Gaza Strip and express solidarity with Palestinians on June 10, 2024.
The Free Press reporter added that police did not attempt to intervene as she was being shoved and pushed by protesters and that they even attempted to discourage her from filing a police report.
A spokesperson for the NYPD's Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information, confirmed to Fox News Digital that a police report was filed against an unknown female for harassment after the individual followed and shouted at Reingold. The spokesperson said Reingold did not sustain any injuries.
The anti-Israel mob then headed to the "October 7th 06:29 AM—The Moment Music Stood Still" exhibition in Lower Manhattan, which commemorates those killed at the Nova Music Festival.
More than 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage in Israel on Oct. 7, according to Israeli authorities, after Hamas militants launched a surprise attack.
Reef Peretz, chairman of the Nova Foundation, looks at the names and faces of people killed during the Nova festival at "The Nova Music Festival Exhibition: Oct. 7 06:29 AM, The Moment Music Stood Still" on April 18, 2024, in New York City.
Nova Music Festival survivor Eilat Tibi told Fox News she heard people shouting to "‘kill Israel, kill me, kill my friends, kill my country."
"And this is violent, and this is not our way," Tibi added.
ISRAELI MUSIC FESTIVAL SURVIVOR DESCRIBES HORROR OF HAMAS-LED ATTACK THAT LEFT 260 DEAD
Another survivor of the Re’im massacre, Tal Shimony, said the large group of anti-Israel agitators made her feel like she was back on Oct. 7.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams condemned the protesters waving Hamas and Hezbollah flags as well as banners reading "Long Live Oct. 7"
Memorials at the site of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re'im, Israel, on May 27, 2024.
Adams said one person even yelled he wished that "‘Hitler was still here. He would have wiped all of you out.’"
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"These are reprehensible and vile comments. I, and every New Yorker who stands for peace, stand united against them. I always speak up for what’s right, and what we saw last night was wrong," the mayor said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter.
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