ASU scholarship student placed on leave after video of verbal attack on woman in hijab goes viral

An Arizona State University postdoctoral fellow is on leave as the institution investigates his confrontation with a woman in a hijab that was captured on video, the school said Tuesday.

The confrontation occurred Sunday during a pro-Israel rally just outside the Tempe campus. A viral cell phone video shows scholar Jonathan Yudelman and another unidentified man confronting the woman, who was wearing a hijab.

It’s not clear what happened before the video shows the scholar grappling with the woman, but during the clip Yudelman said: “I’m literally in your face – that’s right.”

During the interaction, the woman can be seen backing away as Yudelman repeatedly advances toward her, sometimes with his hands raised, and inches away from her.

“You are disregarding my religious boundaries,” says the woman.

“You respect my sense of humanity, damn it,” Yudelman replies.

In a statement, the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the incident and called on “law enforcement to arrest Arizona State University (ASU) Professor Jonathan Yudelman for allegedly assaulting a Muslim woman in a hijab while attending “harassed and assaulted a Muslim woman in a hijab at a pro-Israel protest near campus.”

“Such behavior is not only discriminatory, but also violates the core principles of academic integrity and respect for diversity that professors should uphold in and out of the classroom,” said Azza Abuseif, the chapter’s executive director, while also calling on ASU to terminate Yudelman to dismiss .

On Tuesday, Arizona State University responded to Yudelman’s video and criticism.

“ASU is aware of the allegations against Jonathan Yudelman and is investigating them,” the school said in a statement. “Dr. Yudelman is on leave and will remain so until the investigation is completed.”

Yudelman did not respond to requests for comment sent to his ASU email address and through contacts at other institutions he has recently been associated with.

Phoenix NBC affiliate KPNX interviewed Yudelman before the confrontation. He described pro-Palestinian protests at universities across the country as a “takeover of campuses by supporters of terrorism” and denounced what he called “intimidation of Jewish students.”

“It was important to come out and make a statement for the community,” Yudelman said.

A campus rabbi who advises students who organized the pro-Israel rally and spoke at the event did not immediately respond to a request for comment. One of the student groups that organized Sunday’s event, ASU’s Chabad, also did not respond.

The university’s Students for Justice in Palestine department also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Yudelman is a scholar at ASU’s School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. The university listed him as a lecturer on “Great Debates in American Politics” and “Great Ideas of Politics and Ethics.”

He is also listed as an assistant professor of political theory in the intellectual foundations area at the University of Austin in Texas and has also held postdoctoral positions at Princeton, Harvard and Baylor, according to his University of Austin biography.

“His current research focuses on early modern political theory, the idea of ​​progress, sources of political authority, and the intersection of politics and religion,” it says.

Yudelman is listed as a lecturer at the Tikvah Fund, a nonprofit organization in New York City that promotes Jewish ideas and describes itself on its website as “politically Zionist, economically free-market oriented, culturally traditional, and theologically open.” ”

An Arizona State spokesman said about 100 people attended Sunday’s pro-Israel rally, in contrast to global protests and campus encampments condemning Israel’s warfare in neighboring Gaza following Hamas militants’ surprise attack on Israel on May 7. October were critical.

The spokesman said a person unaffiliated with the school was arrested and accused of spray-painting university campuses during a “pro-Palestine” rally the weekend before.