Latest news with #AriRabi
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Yahoo
Man charged with hate crime after shooting Israeli tourists he thought were Palestinians: police
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (WFLA) — A man accused of shooting two Israeli tourists in Miami Beach who he assumed were Palestinians is now charged with a hate crime. Mordechai Brafman, 27, faces up to life in prison on hate crime related charges connected to the Feb. 15 incident, according to a report from NBC affiliate WTVJ. Florida DoorDash driver mauled by 2 dogs, airlifted to Tampa Police said Brafman shot at a car carrying Yaron Rabi and Ari Rabi, a father and son visiting South Florida from Israel. Ari Rabi was shot in the shoulder and his father's forearm was grazed by a bullet. After the shooting, which police said was unprovoked, Brafman 'spontaneously stated that while he was driving his truck, he saw two (2) Palestinians and shot and killed both,' according to a police report. Brafman's attorney Dustin Tischler told WTVJ the father and son were reaching for a weapon and Brafman was simply defending himself. A doctor declared Brafman incompetent to stand trial, but a second opinion is needed before a judge can weigh in. Tischler denied the shooting was motivated by hate. Brafman pleaded not guilty to the charges and remained in jail on Tuesday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Independent
18-02-2025
- The Independent
Jewish Florida man shot two Israelis because he thought they were Palestinians, cops say
A Jewish man shot two Israeli nationals in the street on a busy Saturday night because he wrongly believed them to be Palestinians, say officials. Mordechai Brafman, 27, is charged with two counts of attempted second-degree murder after he shot Yaron and Ari Rabi, a father and son, who were in Miami Beach on vacation in what authorities are calling an 'unprovoked' attack. Arrest documents revealed that while being questioned, the gunman declared he was driving and 'saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both,' reports CBS Miami. In the moments leading up to the shooting, Brafman's truck was captured on surveillance video traveling close to the northern section of Miami Beach, suddenly making a U-turn and driving back to where the two victims were sitting stationary in their car. Brafman stopped ahead of them in a different lane, and began shooting at their vehicle 17 times, according to the arrest documents. Both victims were wounded in the attack. Speaking with CBS Monday, Ari Rabi revealed that he was hit in the left shoulder while his father was scraped by a bullet wound in his left forearm. Ari was rushed to a local hospital in stable condition. 'One of the bullets missed my father's head', he told the network with the help of a friend who interpreted for him. The victims confirmed that they had never seen the assailant before. Shortly after the attack, Brafman was tracked down by police and taken into custody. In the days after the shooting, the Rabi family posted multiple videos and photos online showing their injuries as well as the damage to their car, in addition to offering commentary about the whole ordeal. "Doesn't matter who are you, Palestinians, Jewish, Gaza, doesn't matter from which country you are, you can't take a gun and try to kill someone," a friend of the Rabi family who was interpreting for them told NBC. "This is crazy', he added. Cair's national executive director Nihad Awad spoke out on X regarding the attack: "It is deeply ironic and telling that both the alleged pro-Israel perpetrator and the pro-Israel victim in the Miami Beach shooting reportedly hold racist anti-Palestinian views'. The gunman was booked into jail Sunday morning and a bond is yet to be set, according to booking records seen Tuesday. The Independent
Washington Post
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Man charged in Florida shooting thought victims were Palestinians, police say
A man is charged with two counts of attempted second-degree murder over allegedly shooting two people he thought were Palestinian in Miami Beach this weekend. Mordechai Brafman, 27, a Florida plumber, fired 17 rounds toward a car about 9.30 p.m. on Saturday, police allege in his arrest report. The attack was 'unprovoked,' and Brafman did not know the people in the car, police say. Both victims were injured but survived, the arrest report says. One was shot in the shoulder and a bullet grazed the forearm of the other, it says. Brafman was arrested shortly after the alleged attack and police seized a semiautomatic handgun. Brafman told police that 'while he was driving his truck, he saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both,' according to his arrest report. He was captured on surveillance footage making a U-turn toward the victims' vehicle, getting out and firing as it passed, police said. Brafman was ordered Monday to stay away from the victims, Ari Rabi and Yaron Rabi, footage from a Florida circuit court aired by local media shows. He was ordered Monday to remain behind bars awaiting trial and will face a pretrial detention hearing on Tuesday, court records show. A man named Ari Rabi identified himself and his father, who are Israeli, as the victims in social media posts. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Florida chapter called for Brafman to be additionally charged with committing hate crimes. '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,' CAIR-Florida Communications Director Wilfredo Amr Ruiz said. Complaints of anti-Muslim bias rose by almost 70 percent in the period of January to June 2024, following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, compared to the same period the previous year, according to CAIR. It said it received more than 8,000 reports of discrimination against Muslims in 2023, the highest number in its 30-year history. A 6-year-old Palestinian American boy was stabbed to death near Chicago in October 2023; three Palestinian Americans were shot in Vermont the following month and survived; and a Texas woman is accused of attempting to drown a 3-year-old girl with a Palestinian background in a swimming pool in May. Antisemitic attitudes are also prevalent in the United States, Anti-Defamation League polling found in 2023, and the year the Gaza war broke out anti-Jewish hate crimes reached their highest number since data collection began in 1991, according to the FBI.
