Local prosecutors in Florida said on Tuesday that their hate crimes unit is probing a shooting by a male suspect who, according to police, fired on two men he thought were Palestinians but turned out to be Israeli visitors, Reuters has reported. The Miami-Dade state attorney’s office said that the hate crimes unit “reviews every criminal offence that has the potential of being motivated by hate.”
The website of Miami-Dade County Corrections says that the suspect, 27-year-old Mordechai Brafman, was charged earlier with two counts of attempted murder after the shooting on Saturday. County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava thanked prosecutors on social media for “pursuing hate crimes charges.”
When interviewed by police, Brafman said that while he was driving his truck in Miami Beach, he saw two people who he thought were Palestinians. 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 Israelis and not Palestinians, said police.
Dustin Tischler, a lawyer for Brafman, told the Washington Post that they were “fully cooperating with law enforcement” and “acknowledge the seriousness of the allegations.” He added that Brafman had been “experiencing a severe mental health crisis which caused him to be in fear for his life.”
Rights advocates note a rise in anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian and anti-Semitic hate since the start of US ally Israel’s war against the Palestinians in Gaza.
Incidents in the US 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 violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters in California; and the fatal shooting of three Palestinian American students in Vermont.
READ: Israeli soldiers indicted for brutal assault on Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman