By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) – Local prosecutors pursued hate crime charges against a Florida man who, according to police, shot two men he thought were Palestinians but turned out to be Israeli visitors, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said on Tuesday.

Rights advocates note a rise in anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian and antisemitic hate since the start of U.S. ally Israel’s war in Gaza following an October 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian Hamas militants.

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

“I thank @MiamiBeachPD for a swift arrest and @KathyFndzRundle (Miami-Dade state attorney’s office) for pursuing hate crime charges,” the mayor said on X.

Brafman, when interviewed by police, said that while he was driving his truck in Miami Beach, he saw two people 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, police said.

Dustin Tischler, a lawyer for Brafman, told the Washington Post they were “fully cooperating with law enforcement” and “acknowledge the seriousness of the allegations.” He added Brafman had been “experiencing a severe mental health crisis which caused him to be in fear for his life.”

Other U.S. incidents 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 shooting of three Palestinian American students in Vermont.

Incidents raising alarm over antisemitism 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 center and physical assaults against a Jewish man in Michigan, a rabbi in Maryland and two Jewish students in Chicago.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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