Jewish Florida man shoots Israelis thinking they were Palestinians

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
18 Feb 2025 00:12
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A Jewish Florida man fired 17 shots at two people believing they were Palestinians and they later turned out to be Israelis who blamed "Arabs" for the "anti-semitic" attack.

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Mordechai Brafman, 28, the assailant in an anti-Arab shooting that targeted two Jews in Miami, Florida, smiles in his mugshot. (Social media)

Miami Beach authorities have arrested a Jewish man, Mordechai Brafman, 28, on charges of attempted murder after he fired 17 shots at a vehicle, believing its occupants were Palestinians. The attack, which occurred on Saturday, left two Jewish Israeli settlers injured.

According to police reports, Brafman was driving his truck when he spotted the victims, Ari Rabey and his father, and opened fire on their vehicle with a handgun. He later told police, "I killed two Palestinians," believing he had fatally shot them. However, neither victim was killed—one sustained a shoulder wound, while the other was grazed by a bullet.

Authorities described the attack as unprovoked, confirming that there was no prior altercation between Brafman and the victims. Surveillance footage showed the wounded Rabeys seeking help at a nearby building, with one of them visibly bleeding from the shoulder.

Initially, the victims, unaware of their attacker's identity, believed they had been targeted in an "antisemitic assault".

Ari Rabey later took to Facebook to describe the incident, stating, "My father and I went through a murder attempt with an anti-semitic background. They tried to murder us in the heart of Miami, but the Creator of the world is with us [...]. I want to say thank you to everyone for their support, and it is not taken for granted. Long Live Israel. Death to the Arabs."

Rabey also noted that his father had been wearing a yarmulke at the time of the attack, which led them to believe they had been singled out for their Jewish identity. His social media post, however, sparked controversy due to its inflammatory rhetoric, particularly as it emerged that the attacker was a Jewish man motivated by extreme pro-Israeli sentiment.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called for Brafman to be charged with a hate crime, arguing that his belief that he was targeting Palestinians reveals a dangerous level of racial bias.

Anti-Palestinian attacks growing rapidly

Since the war on Gaza began, Islamophobia and racially motivated hate crimes are becoming more commonplace, particularly in the US where some politicians have used inflammatory rhetoric against Palestinians.

In October of 2023, an eight-year-old Palestinian American was killed in Illinois after being stabbed, and in February, a Palestinian American man was stabbed in Texas.

In November, three Palestinian Americans were shot in Vermont in what police believed was a hate-motivated crime since two of them were wearing the traditional Palestinian koufiyyeh.

In September 2024, a grand jury in Texas indicted a woman for attempting to drown a three-year-old Palestinian American Muslim girl in an incident from May, which local police believe was driven by racial hatred.

Elizabeth Wolf, 42, was charged by a Tarrant County grand jury, with the indictment filed last month including a hate crime enhancement, according to court documents obtained on Tuesday. This enhancement could lead to a harsher sentence if Wolf is convicted.

Wolf faces charges of attempted capital murder of a child under ten and intentionally causing bodily harm to a child.