A Florida man has been arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder after opening fire on a vehicle carrying two men he mistakenly believed to be Palestinians, but who were actually Israeli visitors, local authorities reported.
According to the Miami-Dade County Corrections website, 27-year-old Mordechai Brafman was booked on Sunday and charged with two counts of attempted murder following the shooting on Saturday.
A police report released by the Miami Beach Police states that Brafman told officers he was driving his truck in Miami Beach when he saw two individuals he assumed were Palestinian. He then stopped, fired at them, and believed he had killed them, according to police.
However, both victims survived. One suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder, while the other sustained an injury to the forearm. Authorities later confirmed they were Israeli visitors, not Palestinians.
Reuters was unable to immediately identify a representative or lawyer for Brafman.
Human rights organizations have reported a rise in anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian, and antisemitic incidents across the United States following the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, which began after the October 7, 2023, attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Other recent incidents 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 assault 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.
Cases raising concerns about antisemitism include violent threats against Jewish students at Cornell University, which led to a conviction and sentencing; an unsuccessful plot to attack a Jewish center in New York; and physical assaults against a Jewish man in Michigan, a rabbi in Maryland, and two Jewish students in Chicago.
