CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash was in the middle of her book launch tour when anti-Israel protesters stormed the event, causing chaos.
Bash was promoting his book, “America's Most Dangerous Election: Lessons from the Most Violent Election in American History,” at an event Thursday night hosted by Politics & Prose, an independent Washington, D.C., bookstore.
At least two protesters stormed the event, walked toward the seated crowd at the bookstore and confronted Bash.
“You should be in jail!” one protester can be seen yelling at Bash in a video from the event. “You're an accomplice to genocide!”
“Every time she lies, a Gazan dies!” a protester yelled. “She's killing people! You know it too! Look me in the eyes! Look me in the eyes!”
“You don't deserve to see [her] “In the eyes,” retorted one spectator.
Protesters continued to yell at Bash, calling her a “murderer,” as two men in police uniforms escorted her out of the bookstore.
“Take off your masks,” one spectator said as the protesters left.
A second protester then took over the one-sided shouting exchange.
“You have millions of dollars and you live alone in that million-dollar house,” the protester said. “You have it in order to lie about the Palestinian people!”
A Jewish CNN anchor who did not attend the protests criticized the disruptive pro-Palestinian protests that have erupted on college campuses across the country.
“It's one thing to protest the Israeli government, the Israeli prime minister, waging a retaliatory war against Hamas,” Bash previously told his show “Inside Politics.” “It's unacceptable to make Jewish students feel unsafe in their own schools. And we're seeing too much of that happening right now.”
A CNN spokesperson called Bash a “highly respected veteran journalist” who has covered politics “impartially” for more than 30 years.
“We firmly support her and her reporting, and while we respect her right to free speech, she will not be intimidated and will continue to cover all subjects without fear or bias,” a CNN spokesperson told The Washington Post in a statement.
Bash's book compares today's tense political climate to the 1872 election, in which both major parties accused the other of corruption and racism and violence raged across the country.
It is not uncommon for spectators to call on protesters to remove their masks.
Nassau County on Long Island became the first county to pass a controversial ban on wearing masks in public, making it a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The ban does not apply to people who wear masks for health, safety, religious, or cultural reasons.
The Republican-majority county council passed the bill in response to a rise in anti-Semitic incidents, which lawmakers say are often perpetrated by people wearing masks.
A New York-based disability advocacy group sued, arguing that the ban is unconstitutional and discriminatory against people with disabilities.
(An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed a comment to Dana Bash. A CNN spokesperson said Bash did not engage with the protesters and allowed them to protest peacefully.
