A Jewish man in Miami Beach was arrested over the weekend after shooting two Israeli visitors, mistakenly believing they were Palestinians. The suspect, 27-year-old Mordechai Brafman, now faces two counts of attempted second-degree murder.
Surveillance footage captured Brafman, a Jew, making a U-turn in his truck before stopping in front of another vehicle, exiting, and opening fire. He shot 17 times with a semi-automatic handgun, striking one victim in the shoulder and grazing the other’s forearm, according to the arrest report.
Brafman was arrested shortly after the attack. In a police interview, he reportedly admitted to targeting the victims, stating: “While I was driving my truck, I saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both.” However, neither of the victims—identified as an Israeli father and son visiting Miami—were killed. Police confirmed that they had no prior connection to Brafman.
The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called for federal hate crime charges, citing Brafman’s alleged intent. “It is the alleged shooter’s reportedly bias-motivated actions, not the actual ethnicity of the victims, that should be the determining factor for charges in this disturbing case,” said CAIR Florida’s communications director, Wilfredo Amr Ruiz.
Since the outbreak of war in Gaza 16 months ago, the United States has seen a sharp rise in Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian violence. In October 2023, a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy,Wadea al-Fayoumee, was fatally stabbed 26 times in Illinois in what authorities classified as a hate crime. Two months later, three Palestinian-American college students were shot in Burlington, Vermont, while wearing keffiyehs and speaking Arabic. One of the victims was left paralysed from the chest down.
Authorities have not yet confirmed whether Brafman will face hate crime charges in the Miami Beach shooting.
