‘Beat His Ass’: Daily Wire Reporter Threatened At NYC Anti-Israel Protest

A Daily Wire reporter was threatened and harassed Wednesday while covering an anti-Israel demonstration in New York City on the third anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.

Gideon Askowitz was reporting from the protest when demonstrators identified him as a Daily Wire reporter and began verbally attacking him, with one woman encouraging a man who was rolling a joint to assault him.

“Beat his ass for me”

Protestor attempts to have me assaulted for filming for Daily Wire https://t.co/76fAkjPwX3

— Gideon Askowitz (@Gideon_Askowitz) October 7, 2026

“Wanna beat his ass for me?” the woman asked in video captured by Askowitz.

“Yeah for free,” he responded.

“Yeah, beat his ass. You won’t get in trouble, boy,” the woman continued.

The protesters then repeatedly identified Askowitz as a Daily Wire reporter and escalated their insults. “Oh yeah, Daily Wire. He’s right-wing,” the woman went on.

“Oh, good, this white piece of sh*t,” another responded, before calling Askowitz a “KKK piece of sh*t.” Another protester referred to Askowitz as part of “Ben Shapiro’s” channel.

The video also captured an exchange over protesters touching what appeared to be Askowitz’s press badge.

“I ask that you don’t touch—” Askowitz began.

“I’m not touching you, I’m touching that,” the protester responded.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s a part of my person,” Askowitz replied.

“No it’s not,” the protester said. “The card! We’re touching the card.”

The confrontation ended with protesters calling Askowitz a “scumbag” and repeatedly invoking Shapiro and The Daily Wire.

Askowitz later described the incident as relatively mild compared with previous encounters while covering protests, but said the woman nevertheless attempted to get another agitator to assault him.

The confrontation occurred as anti-Israel demonstrations took place across New York City on the third anniversary of Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack.

More than 100 people gathered at Washington Square Park for a demonstration organized around NYU’s “Rage Week,” with protesters calling for the university to divest from Israel and close its Tel Aviv campus. Protesters chanted “Long live the intifada” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” while one speaker urged demonstrators to “keep the intifada alive.”

At Columbia University, protesters similarly chanted in support of the intifada and shouted, “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” Another chant called for Arab control “from water to water.”

Speakers also defended Hamas’ October 7 attack. Andrew Ross, an NYU professor and member of Faculty and Staff for “Justice in Palestine,” described the attack as a military tactic primarily intended to obtain hostages to secure the release of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Ross also claimed that the Israel Defense Forces killed some Israeli civilians during the attack through the use of the Hannibal Directive.

NYU senior Ariella Cojab challenged Ross during the event. “That, to me, is not resistance. That’s a war crime,” Cojab said. “Rape is not resistance.”

The October 7 attacks killed nearly 1,200 people and resulted in 251 hostages being taken, according to the latest figures.

Meanwhile, roughly 125 protesters gathered outside New York City Hall to accuse Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani of abandoning parts of the Palestinian movement’s agenda. Demonstrators accused Mamdani of failing to do enough for their cause, urging him to support divestment from Israel and criticizing his administration’s response to anti-Israel activism. 

A coalition of leftist activist organizations, including “Students for Justice in Palestine” and other anti-Zionist groups, promoted the City Hall demonstration. Organizers described October 7 as the anniversary of “resistance against imperialism” and called for “victory to the resistance.”

Askowitz continued reporting despite the confrontation.

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