A Jewish conservative activist was thrown to the ground and jumped on at the University of Michigan, and prosecutors have now authorized criminal charges against her alleged attacker.
Story Snapshot
- University of Michigan police say officers watched a student shove activist Lizzy Benichou to the ground during a November 1 campus event.
- Video reportedly shows student Temulun Togochog pushing Benichou down and jumping on her.
- The Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office authorized three charges, including assault and resisting an officer.
- Benichou says she was targeted while exercising her First Amendment rights and plans to press charges.
- Reports describe chilling threats allegedly made by the suspect while she was being detained.
Campus Police Respond To Violent Confrontation
University of Michigan police responded to a noise complaint around 5:00 p.m. on November 1, 2026, during a free-speech event on campus. Officers reportedly witnessed a student push a woman to the ground. That student was arrested on the spot, processed, and later released while the case moved to prosecutors for review.
Video footage from the scene appeared to show the student, identified in reports as Temulun Togochog, shoving Lizzy Benichou down and then jumping on top of her during the confrontation. Benichou, a conservative activist attending the event, posted afterward that she was “physically assaulted” while exercising her constitutional right to free speech and said she intended to press charges against the person responsible.
Prosecutors Move Forward With Charges
The Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office authorized charges against Togochog on November 3, 2026. She faces one count of assaulting, resisting, or obstructing a police officer, plus two counts of assault or assault and battery. The charges followed the university’s referral of the case after officers processed and released the student at the scene.
Reports describe disturbing statements allegedly made by the suspect while she was being held. She was reportedly heard saying she “should have f***ing killed” Benichou “when I f***ing had the chance,” and that she had already been in a mental hospital and would “go again if it means killing her.” Those alleged remarks have fueled concern among conservatives about how campus officials handle threats against their students.
Injuries And Aftermath Still Taking Shape
Benichou was taken for X-rays after the incident and was described as sore but not seriously hurt. Other reporting said she received medical treatment and was released from the scene. The underlying dispute reportedly centered on comments about Iran, clothing, and Islam before the physical confrontation turned violent, though the full back-and-forth leading up to the push has not been laid out in an official account.
Reports have also connected Togochog’s politics to Michigan’s newly elected U.S. senator, Abdul El-Sayed, though that link rests on online commentary and participant accounts rather than a police release or charging document. Conservatives online wasted little time demanding accountability, with one user writing that the university “should be expelling the student that attacked a reporter last week,” arguing that officials were “hiding and not t” addressing the matter directly.
𝐔-𝐌 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐀 𝐉𝐄𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐓, 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐃: “𝐈 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐊!𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑”
A University of Michigan student was arrested Nov. 1 after video showed her shoving Jewish conservative activist Lizzy Benichou to the… pic.twitter.com/yN67kxtq7w
— M.A. Rothman (@MichaelARothman) November 4, 2026
This incident did not happen in a vacuum. Campus political tension has run hot nationwide since late 2023, when protests tied to the Israel-Hamas conflict spread to hundreds of universities. A congressionally commissioned review found that while thousands of campus protest events have occurred, the overwhelming majority stayed nonviolent. That broader pattern does not change what happened to Benichou, but it shows why conservative students covering campus speech events increasingly fear becoming targets themselves.
For now, the facts on record are straightforward. Police witnessed the shove. Prosecutors authorized charges. A conservative Jewish activist says she was attacked for simply speaking her mind on a public university campus, and the legal process will now determine what comes next for the student accused of putting her on the ground.
Sources:
townhall.com, jns.org, ibtimes.co.uk, fox2detroit.com
