Liz Benichou went to the University of Michigan, a public school in Ann Arbor, last weekend to talk to students about Iran and the dangers of radical Islam. That night, the Jewish commentator and activist spent hours in an emergency room.
“I was in a state of shock,” she told JNS. “I was at the hospital having a panic attack, shaking.”
Benichou, 35, who has some 100,000 followers across social media channels, said that she was attacked by Temulun Togochog, a University of Michigan student who is 19, according to court records.
Togochog was arraigned on Wednesday on a felony count of assaulting, resisting or obstructing a police officer and two misdemeanor counts of assault or assault and battery, according to court records. The case was filed on Nov. 3 in Ann Arbor’s 15th District Court.
According to the docket, Togochog appeared on a warrant and “stood mute” at arraignment, which means that she refused to enter a guilty or not guilty plea. In Michigan, that automatically enters a “not guilty” plea.
The court set a $5,000 personal recognizance bond.
The charges stem from a Nov. 1 free speech event at the university. Video footage that circulated appears to show Togochog striking commentator Joe Redden in the face with a cell phone and then pushing Benichou to the ground and jumping on her. In the video, another student appears to intervene, and campus police officers arrest Togochog.
For Benichou, the charges have brought little confidence of consequences. “I just don’t believe that anything’s going to happen,” she told JNS.
She cited “soft on crime policies.”
Benichou told JNS that she traveled from Texas, where she lives, to Michigan to speak to students and voters not just about Iran and radical Islam, but also about Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who was elected to the Senate on Tuesday night. The Republican Jewish Coalition has called him the country’s most antisemitic Senate candidate.
She met up with Redden and fellow commentator Cam Higby. Of the three, Benichou is the smallest, at 5 feet tall and 86 pounds. She said that after Togochog slapped Redden in the face with a phone, the student “went into panic mode” and came after her.
“Joe’s a big dude. Cam’s a big dude. I’m not a big dude,” Benichou told JNS. “She chose the smallest person. I’m the easiest target.”
The experience has Benichou considering taking martial arts classes and gun training.
‘Endemic on the left’
She told JNS that she has been inundated with messages, including from a girl on Instagram who wrote that she wished someone would “get you in your neck like they did Charlie,” referring to Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was shot in the neck and killed while speaking to students at a campus event in Utah on Sept. 10, 2025.
She told JNS that she reported the message to Instagram and will be speaking to law enforcement. Benichou also posted a screenshot of the message on social media.
“People need to know who these people are,” she said.
Benichou has since learned that as a younger teen, Togochog was a human rights activist who spoke out against communism in Mongolia. “A few years ago, she looked like a nice, normal girl,” Benichou told JNS.
“I think it’s just becoming endemic on the left,” she said. “When you have years of media, celebrities, universities, everyone telling you that the Right is evil and that all of our values are evil, it just creates these monsters.”
“You’re seeing so much political violence coming from the left,” she told JNS.
Benichou wants the court to impose meaningful consequences but doesn’t wish Togochog to “have a bad life.”
“She’s young. She’s dumb. She deserves an opportunity to become a better person,” Benichou told JNS. “The only way to do that is through accountability.”
