Florida man shot Israeli visitors thinking they were Palestinians, police say

WASHINGTON - A Florida man was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder after shooting at a vehicle with two men who he thought were Palestinians but turned out to be Israeli visitors, the local authorities said.

The website of Miami-Dade County Corrections says the suspect, 27-year-old Mordechai Brafman, was charged with two counts of attempted murder and booked on Feb 16 for the shooting on Feb 15.

A police report shared by Miami Beach Police showed that Brafman, when interviewed by police, said that while he was driving his truck in Miami Beach, he saw two people he thought were Palestinian.

He said that he then stopped, shot at and killed them, according to police.

However, the victims survived. One was shot in the shoulder and the other had a wounded forearm. They turned out to be Israeli visitors and not Palestinians, police said.

A representative or lawyer for Brafman could not be immediately identified by Reuters.

Human rights advocates say there has been a

rise in anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian and anti-Semitic hate

in the United States since the start of US ally Israel’s war in Gaza following an Oct 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Other recent US incidents include the attempted drowning of a three-year-old Palestinian American girl in Texas, the fatal stabbing of a six-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 violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters in California and the shooting of three Palestinian American students in Vermont.

Incidents raising alarm over anti-Semitism include threats of violence against Jews at Cornell University that led to a conviction and sentencing, an unsuccessful plot to attack a New York Jewish centre and physical assaults against a Jewish man in Michigan, a rabbi in Maryland and two Jewish students in Chicago. REUTERS