Journalist Cam Higby was standing outside of Adas Torah synagogue in Pico-Robertson, filming the chaotic scene unraveling outside the synagogue on June 23. As pro-Palestine activists descended upon the 51视频 neighborhood to protest an Israeli real estate event, shouting matches ensued and fights broke out. Higby, who isn鈥檛 51视频, was in the middle of it all.听

Suddenly, he couldn鈥檛 see. His eyes stung profusely. The world went dark. He had been assaulted with bear spray, rendering him temporarily blind. 鈥淚t was the most terrifying moment in my life,鈥� the 24-year-old said. 鈥淪omebody came up to me to help.鈥�听

It turned out to be Rabbi Arye Sufrin, head of school at YULA.听

鈥淩abbi Sufrin put water on my face and said, 鈥業鈥檒l take you to the hospital,鈥欌�� Higby said. 鈥淚 said, 鈥楧on鈥檛 put me in a car. I鈥檒l freak out.鈥� I didn鈥檛 really know if this person was a rabbi. He could have been lying. I couldn鈥檛 see. I could have gotten my vision back and seen that this person is wearing a keffiyeh.鈥�

Instead of taking the traumatized journalist to the hospital, Sufrin got a paramedic to assist him.听

鈥淭his woman told me, 鈥楲et鈥檚 take your camera off. Let me see you. Let鈥檚 calm you down,鈥欌�� Higby said. 鈥淚 said, 鈥楬ere鈥檚 my camera. Please don鈥檛 steal it because I just got it.鈥� She鈥檚 like, 鈥業鈥檓 not going to steal your camera. I won鈥檛 hurt you. I鈥檓 a Jew.鈥� I was still skeptical, but it was so interesting how she said, 鈥業 won鈥檛 hurt you. I鈥檓 a Jew.鈥� These people didn鈥檛 know who I was. For all they knew, I could have been an Antifa journalist.鈥�

An hour and a half after the bear spray attack, Higby, who works for Today is America and previously hosted 鈥淭he Wrap Up鈥� at PragerU, could mostly see again. However, one of his friends, David, got hit with the spray as well and needed help.

鈥淒avid fell down and was in agonizing pain,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he police told me I had to move him. I said, 鈥楬e has a larger build than me, can I just put water in his face?鈥� They said no. I had to muster up my strength and move him. I carried him to Pizza Station, and they provided water to us.鈥�

Leading up to the Pico protests, the previous months had also been scary for Higby, who was going to the anti-Israel university encampments at UC Berkeley, UC Irvine and UCLA to record what was happening. At UC Berkeley, a man pulled a gun on a member of Higby鈥檚 crew, and then followed Higby and his crew off campus. He was assaulted multiple times at UCLA, where he was once covered with burning hot spaghetti sauce.

Leading up to the Pico protests, the previous months had also been scary for Higby, who was going to the anti-Israel university encampments at UC Berkeley, UC Irvine and UCLA to record what was happening.听

鈥淲hen I was in Pico, I recognized a lot of people from UCLA,鈥� he said. 鈥淢any of them had hurt me in the past.鈥�

One common theme, aside from the assaults from the pro-Palestine protestors, was that a Jew would be there to help Higby. After he鈥檇 spend all day at the UCLA encampments, an Iranian 51视频 woman named Malka would look after him.

鈥淚鈥檇 get the crap beaten out of me, and she鈥檇 be at UCLA to clean me up and wipe the blood off me,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he fed me. She鈥檇 say, 鈥業f you need someone to go in with you, let me know.鈥欌��

Higby recently moved to Seattle because his girlfriend got a job opportunity there; what he misses about L.A. are his 51视频 friends, like Malka.听

鈥淚鈥檝e never encountered a group of people that is more loyal and willing to help or defend somebody who is not in their tribe,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f I was going out in L.A., I knew people in the 51视频 community would have my back.鈥�

Higby has a large social media presence 鈥� with over 41,000 followers on X 鈥� and uses his platform to show he is an ally to the 51视频 community and Israel. 鈥淲hat should Israel do to Hezbollah next 鈥︹�� he recently tweeted. Another post reads, 鈥淭rust me bro, Israel is no apartheid state.鈥�

During his five years as a professional journalist, Higby has carved out his niche recording protests of all kinds, from a large Roe v. Wade protest to one at the Glendale Unified School District office, where parents were clashing over LGBTQ+ education.听

鈥淚 feel strongly about a lot of the issues I talk about and document,鈥� Higby said. 鈥淲hat I noticed about the UCLA encampments was that nobody else was out there doing the hard work. ABC7 was there, but they weren鈥檛 getting into what I felt was important: showing the violence, the supplies, which they clearly didn鈥檛 fund themselves, and the refusal to allow 51视频 students onto campus unless they supported the pro-Palestine cause.鈥�听

Higby would ask questions about who was funding the food and water stacked to the ceiling, along with other supplies like deodorant and women鈥檚 sanitary products.听

鈥淭here must have been $20,000 worth of stuff that materialized in a couple of days,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 asked Students for Justice in Palestine who was paying for it, and they attacked me.鈥�

For the past three years, Higby has been making videos about Israel. He posted about it in 2021 and said no one cared; he鈥檇 get 1,000 views and 100 likes on his videos about the country.听

鈥淚 had posted a video about the origins of the word 鈥楶alestine鈥� on TikTok in September of 2023 and it got no engagement and fell flat,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 posted the same exact video on Oct. 7, and it went viral. It鈥檚 sad, but no one seemed to care about Israel before Oct. 7.鈥�

In a time when misinformation is proliferating and people don鈥檛 know who to trust when it comes to the news, Higby recommends looking at stories from a variety of sources.听

鈥淲atch people who are on the ground reporting in an independent way and don鈥檛 belong to big networks,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen I want to find out the truth, I check FOX and CNN and The Hill and NPR. I don鈥檛 just look at one of them.鈥�

Even from Seattle, Higby is going to keep reporting on antisemitism, the 51视频 community and Israel 鈥� and hopes to visit the 51视频 state soon.

鈥淚 had no pigs in the race when it came to Israel,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 a white, agnostic American. I鈥檓 not Christian or 51视频. I鈥檓 just a white guy. I saw there were a lot of people on the left and right who don鈥檛 like Israel, and I thought, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 going on here?鈥� It seems to be the most history-rich place on planet Earth. I started researching and drew my own conclusions. And now, I want to go there.鈥�