Florida man charged with attempted murder, accused of shooting tourists he thought were Palestinian
Officer Christopher Bess, a spokesman for the Miami Beach police department, told CNN the victims were tourists from Israel.
Mordechai Brafman, 27, was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida, late Saturday after allegedly firing 17 times into the victims' car, injuring both the driver and a passenger, according to a police affidavit.
'It should be noted,' the affidavit states, 'that while in custody in our interview room, the defendant spontaneously stated that while he was driving his truck, he saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both.'
The shooting in Miami Beach comes amid heightened tensions as Arab countries attempt to come up with a post-war plan for Gaza, following a tenuous ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Both victims survived the shooting; one victim was shot in the left shoulder, while a bullet grazed the second victim in the left forearm, police records state.
CNN has reached out to the Israeli consulate in Miami for comment.
The Florida chapter of the Muslim civil rights organization the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called for hate crimes charges to be filed against Brafman over 'statements to police that reportedly indicate an anti-Palestinian motive.'
'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,' Wilfredo Amr Ruiz, communications director for CAIR-Florida, said in a statement.
Last year, CAIR condemned the resurgence in anti-Muslim hate, noting in a report that the organization had received more than 8,000 complaints in 2023, most of them since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that year– the highest number documented in the group's 30-year history.
Surveillance footage following the shooting shows the two victims speeding into a driveway before jumping out of their car and frantically knocking on the door of what appears to be an apartment building.
One of the victims, Ari Revay, spoke to CNN affiliate WSVN, telling the outlet through a Hebrew translator that he and his son were in their car when another driver 'randomly started shooting.'
'He put the window down, driver's seat and just blasted (us),' Revay told the station, adding he felt thankful to be alive.
'God, life is a gift,' he said.
CNN's Zenebou Sylla and Michael Besozzi contributed to this report.
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Middle East updates: Germany says Gaza aid 'insufficient'
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New York Post
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14 minutes ago
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In May, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied people are starving, saying Israel takes "thousands of prisoners" from Gaza and photographs them, and you "don't see one, not one, emaciated." Israel has repeatedly said that aid deliveries must be delivered in a "safe framework" that does not give supplies to Hamas and notes that the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) is bringing food into Gaza. Israel has used aid restrictions as a pressure tactic to bring Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, to negotiate the release of hostages that were taken in its October 7, 2023, attack on the country. A picture taken in northern Gaza's Jabalia shows aid parcels parachuted down following an airdrop above the Israel-besieged Palestinian territory on August 1. A picture taken in northern Gaza's Jabalia shows aid parcels parachuted down following an airdrop above the Israel-besieged Palestinian territory on August 1. 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Many nations backed Israel's right to respond to Hamas' attack, but in recent months the growing humanitarian crisis has shifted opinion and prompted outcry over the deteriorating conditions facing civilians. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has simultaneously begun instituting a daily "tactical pause in military activity" for "humanitarian purposes" in the areas of Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Musawi. The practice, first declared last week, was said "to enable the safe passage of UN and humanitarian aid organization convoys delivering and distributing food and medicine to the population across the Gaza Strip." The IDF also said it would begin conducting aid airdrops into Gaza. Faced with an urgent humanitarian crisis, we just conducted a food airdrop over Gaza. I thank our Jordanian, Emirati, and German partners for their support, as well as our armed forces for their dedication. But airdrops are not enough.… — Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 1, 2025 What People Are Saying President Donald Trump recently told reporters: "It's terrible what's occurring there. It's a terrible thing. People are very hungry. The United States gave $60 million for food and it's a shame, because I don't see the results of it. And we gave it to people that in theory are watching over it fairly closely. We wanted Israel to watch over it." A U.S. State Department spokesperson previously told Newsweek: "President Trump and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio want a better life for the people of Gaza and are acutely aware of the dire humanitarian situation. We are supportive of creative efforts to relieve the humanitarian situation in Gaza." Israel's consul general in New York, Ofir Akunis, previously told Newsweek: "There is no deliberate starvation in Gaza, only a deliberate disinformation campaign orchestrated by Hamas and amplified by those who fail to act. Hamas doesn't care about the suffering of children, only about weaponizing their pain to spread hatred against Israel." What Happens Next? The French government and other European partners have signaled they will continue humanitarian airlifts and pressure Israel to open land routes. Macron and other Western leaders called for comprehensive humanitarian access beyond airdrops, which the French leader described as inadequate to alleviate famine risk.
