Kassy Akiva, currently an investigative reporter for The Daily Wire, is a formidable presence in both news reporting and social media. Photos courtesy of Kassy Akiva
Kassy Akiva has been fighting antisemitism for years. Ironically, for the vast majority of that time, she wasn’t even Jewish.
Currently an investigative reporter for The Daily Wire, Akiva is smart, articulate and not easily intimidated. Her resume is long and impressive—especially for someone who has yet to hit thirty years old—and includes stints at Fox News, Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), and former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley’s Stand for America political action committee. Starting from her college days, Akiva espoused political views that made her a magnet for antisemites who threatened and harassed her, thinking she was Jewish even though she wasn’t. But instead of backing down, Akiva couldn’t help but wonder what drove people to have so much hatred for Jews and Israel, her quest for the truth laying the groundwork for major life changes that were yet to unfold.
Journey to Judaism
Born Kassy Dillon, Akiva grew up in a single-parent household devoid of both religion and stability in Chicopee, Massachusetts, a city located roughly ninety miles southwest of Boston. As a young girl, Akiva had her political views shaped by her conservative-leaning grandfather, setting the stage for an eventful university experience as she found herself as one of only two Republican students at Mount Holyoke College. The fact that she was clearly in the minority mattered not at all to Akiva, whose professors made clear their hatred for both Republicans and Israel. The shared ideologies between those two entities had Akiva growing interested in learning more about the Jewish State, and she jumped at the opportunity to take part in a 2016 trip to Israel for politically inclined non-Jewish college students. Little did she know that that trip, her first time ever outside the United States, would also be the first step in her journey to Judaism.
“I had never even met an Orthodox Jew until that trip, but I fell in love with Israel,” recalled Akiva. “I came back a year later and studied at the University of Haifa. I was already learning Arabic and I started learning Hebrew as well.”
After October 7, I had Jews who had been Jews their whole lives asking me how to deal with antisemitism, when I had been Jewish for all of six months.
Akiva continued returning to Israel whenever possible, exploring both Christianity and Judaism as she contemplated the possibility of introducing religion into her life. It didn’t take long for Judaism to ring true for Akiva, and after spending a considerable amount of time studying on her own, she began the long conversion process with the Boston Beit Din. One of the first questions she faced from Rabbi Joseph Polak, a Holocaust survivor who heads the Boston Beit Din, was whether she was prepared to face antisemitism. Saying that she had already been dealing with that reality for years, Akiva told Rabbi Polak about an emailed death threat she had received.
Akiva chose the name Devorah Rut when her conversion was finally approved just before Purim of 2023. Announcing the fact that she was now officially Jewish triggered a fresh wave of hatred on social media. Akiva shrugged off the negativity in her inimitable way, even when neo-Nazi trolls digitally transformed her fiancé Isaac into a swastika in their September 2023 engagement picture.
“I actually thought it was hilarious,” recalled Akiva. “What makes someone take time out of their day to photoshop my engagement photo?”
As someone who had grown up without religion and hadn’t previously been openly Jewish, Isaac found the situation to be anything but amusing, demonstrating to Akiva that many Jews, including those who live in the secular world, had never experienced open antisemitism. The pure hatred that unfurled in waves in the wake of October 7 was incredibly difficult for that demographic, and Akiva remembers many members of the tribe turning to her for help.
“After October 7, I had Jews who had been Jews their whole lives asking me how to deal with antisemitism, when I had been Jewish for all of six months,” said Akiva.
A reporter covering breaking news, Akiva is no stranger to war zones.
From the Front Lines
October 7 proved to be a turning point in Akiva’s life. As a reporter covering breaking and original stories, she was no stranger to war zones and had submitted live reports from Ukraine, Iraq and Israel. Akiva was ready to pack her bags and head to Tel Aviv, but Fox News—her employer at the time—had other ideas, instructing her instead to interview survivors of the brutal massacre and then to cover the unfolding protests at local college campuses.
“They wanted to send me to Harvard and to MIT to watch the crazies there,” said Akiva, who is known for her hard-hitting and unapologetic coverage. “I wanted to be in Israel, so I quit. I signed my papers to go back to The Daily Wire on my way to Israel.”
The situation in Israel was still very fresh when Akiva landed in Tel Aviv two weeks after October 7, and she headed straight to the Gaza border. At the time, only members of the military and journalists were being allowed into the area. “I saw the debris there,” said Akiva. “We saw cars everywhere. Even two weeks later, they were still finding people and that was why I was there covering it. And the reason I needed to get there ASAP was because I knew that people were going to start denying what happened.”
Students at Harvard are not allowed to take videos of other Harvard members and expose their identity, but I’m not a Harvard student, so I am able to go and post about who it was.
Akiva began making mini documentaries, showing what had taken place at the Nova site and Kfar Aza, interviewing IDF soldiers and showing rockets coming in with alarming frequency. She was among a group of reporters who were allowed into Sderot, where they sat on a hill watching Gaza being bombed, and she did so many interviews that by the time she returned home to Boston, she had hours of footage to sort through. With the situation in colleges deteriorating rapidly, she had dozens of October 7–related stories appearing on The Daily Wire, and her X feed, where she shares links to her stories, was inundated with hate messages.
The fact that she is the target of so much negative attention doesn’t seem to faze Akiva, who says her family just hopes that she stays safe. Her paternal grandfather, Gary Dillon, who Akiva describes as “her favorite person in the world,” takes things a step further when it comes to her protection.
“Every time something in my life happens, like I graduate or get married, he sends me a gun,” said Akiva, who has a gun license and, thanks to her grandfather’s largesse, owns multiple firearms.
Social Studies
Akiva is a formidable presence on X, where she has amassed over 220,000 followers. In addition to sharing her Daily Wire reports on the platform, Akiva uses it to create content that will amplify stories of antisemitism that might otherwise go unnoticed, and to hold community leaders and elected officials accountable. She also seizes the opportunity to call out haters, sharing their antisemitic missives publicly, and she clearly enjoys trolling her trolls.
Akiva jumped on a post by Kanye West that read “Jewish wives run over their husbands. What does the Torah have to say about that?” with her signature sense of humor. Her response, written in Hebrew, quoted Hashem’s directive to Avraham to do everything his wife Sara tells him to do. And taking a direct shot at the person who photoshopped her engagement photo, Akiva replied by saying, “Each time you tweet something antisemitic, I’m just going to plan to have another Jewish baby.”
In addition to giving training sessions to students on combatting antisemitism on social media, Akiva has a network of college students who alert her to hateful actions when they see them, giving her the ability to publicly out those who cross the line.
“A lot of these students are afraid to put their names out there, so they send me videos and I’ll go and post it,” explained Akiva. “Students at Harvard are not allowed to take videos of other Harvard members and expose their identity, but I’m not a Harvard student, so I am able to go and post about who it was.”
As a journalist, Akiva believes it is her job to keep people informed so that they can draw their own conclusions, a role she sees as being very different than that of an influencer. She uses her voice and her following to fight antisemitism, and she is a big believer that every Jew can make a difference, even if they don’t have the stomach for the kind of work that she does. But most importantly, Akiva is adamant that Jews need to stop hiding in the shadows in the face of antisemitism.
“The Jewish people have a problem of trying to make other people like them, and that comes off as inauthentic,” said Akiva. “What Jewish people need to do is just be proud to be Jewish; that is what brings light to the world and makes Jews safer.”
Sandy Eller is a freelance writer who writes for print and web media outlets, as well as private clients.
In This Section
The Pen Is Mightier than the Sword: Fay by Barbara Bensoussan
Fighting the Good Fight: Kassy Akiva by Sandy Eller
Getting to the Root of the Story: Meira K. by Merri Ukraincik
Advocacy on a Higher Level: Tziri Preis by Barbara Bensoussan
One Teen’s Fight against Antisemitism: Sofie Glassman by Yehudis Litvak
That Girl Who Loves the Jews: Adina Fernandez by Sarah Ogince