ASU scholar on leave after video of verbal attack on woman in hijab goes viral

An Arizona State University postdoctoral research scholar 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 happened Sunday during a pro-Israel rally just outside campus in Tempe. Viral cellphone video shows the scholar, Jonathan Yudelman, and another man, not identified, confront the woman, who was wearing a hijab.

It’s not clear what happened before the video captures the scholar facing off 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, sometimes with his hands raised, and gets inches away from her.

“You’re disrespecting my religious boundaries,” the woman says.

“You disrespect my sense of humanity, b—-,” Yudelman says back.

In a statement, the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the incident, calling for “law enforcement to arrest Arizona State University (ASU) professor Jonathan Yudelman for allegedly harassing and assaulting a Muslim woman in a hijab during his participation in a pro-Israel protest near campus.”

“Such behavior is not only discriminatory but also violates the fundamental principles of academic integrity and respect for diversity that professors should uphold inside and outside of the classroom,” said Azza Abuseif, executive director of the chapter, while also calling on ASU to fire Yudelman.

On Tuesday, Arizona State University responded to the video and criticism of Yudelman.

“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 pending the outcome of the investigation.”

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

NBC affiliate KPNX of Phoenix interviewed Yudelman before the confrontation. He described pro-Palestinian protests at universities across the nation as “campuses being taken over by supporters of terrorism” and decried what he described as “Jewish students being intimidated.”

“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 who spoke at the event didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. One of the student groups that organized the event Sunday, Chabad at ASU, also did not respond.

The university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter 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 teaching classes titled “Great Debates in American Politics” and “Great Ideas of Politics and Ethics.”

He is also listed as an assistant professor of political theory in intellectual foundation at 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 stated.

Yudelman is listed as being on the faculty of 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-minded.”

A spokesperson for Arizona State said around 100 people attended Sunday’s pro-Israel rally, which was in contrast to global protests and campus encampments critical of Israel’s warfare in neighboring Gaza following Hamas militant’s Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel.