A Jewish Florida man was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder after opening fire on a vehicle carrying two men he mistakenly believed were Palestinians but who were actually Jewish Israeli visitors, local authorities said.
Miami-Dade County Corrections records show the suspect, 27-year-old Mordechai Brafman, was booked Sunday for the shooting, which took place in Miami Beach on Saturday.
According to a police report, Brafman told officers he was driving his truck when he saw two individuals he assumed were Palestinian. He then stopped, fired at them and claimed to have killed them, police said.
However, both victims survived. One was shot in the shoulder, while the other sustained a forearm wound. Police confirmed they were Israeli visitors, not Palestinians.
Reuters was unable to identify a representative or attorney for Brafman immediately.
Human rights advocates report a surge in anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian and anti-Semitic hate incidents in the U.S. since the outbreak of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza killing over 48,000 people, mostly women and children, in retaliation for Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, incursion of Israel.
Recent attacks on Palestinians and Muslims in the U.S. include the attempted drowning of a 3-year-old Palestinian American girl in Texas, the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy in Illinois, the stabbing of a Palestinian American man in Texas, the beating of a Muslim man in New York, a mob assault on pro-Palestinian protesters in California and the shooting of three Palestinian American students in Vermont.
Incidents of anti-Semitism raising the alarm include threats against Jewish students at Cornell University, an attempted attack on a Jewish center in New York and physical assaults targeting a Jewish man in Michigan, a rabbi in Maryland and two Jewish students in Chicago.
