Social media erupts over Miami man who shot Israelis mistaken for Palestinians
A man who was reportedly hunting Palestinians was arrested over the weekend for shooting two Israelis on Miami Beach in Florida after mistaking them for Palestinians, sparking widespread outrage online.
The man, identified as Mordechai Brafman, was detained on Saturday night and faces two counts of attempted second-degree murder, according to reports.
Citing a local Instagram account that posts about Jewish life, the Miami Herald reported that the victims were an Israeli father and son.
The attack started a widespread debate online about growing anti-Arab sentiment in the US, which many social media users believe has been fuelled by “anti-Palestinian hate and indoctrination” within pro-Israeli communities in the US.
One user said: “If a Muslim shot two people in Miami because he thought they were Israelis, it would be called terrorism and there would be wall-to-wall media coverage,” criticising the lack of coverage of the incident within mainstream news outlets.
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According to Brafman’s arrest report, he told police in an interview, "While I was driving my truck, I saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both."
Neither of the victims were killed, and the police said they were visitors from Israel.
One person argued that Brafman acted with such "impunity" in Miami because they already do these types of crimes in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, referring to Israel's continuing onslaught in Gaza and violence by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians.
Zionism is terrorism. Jewish man Mordechai Brafman shot at '2 Palestinians' 17 times unprovoked but they were Jewish Israelis. He wasn't afraid to kill Palestinians in Miami as they do with impunity in Gaza /West Bank. If those injured 2 were actually 'Palestinians' the media… pic.twitter.com/q1u1LBT9ej
— Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu (@SholaMos1) February 17, 2025
Brafman’s words, saying that he "saw Palestinians and killed them", opened up an online debate about the radicalisation of anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab sentiment in the US, with many online asking, “Where was he radicalised?” and asking for the US Congress to address the increasing hate against Palestinians and Arabs.
BREAKING: Mordechai Brafman, 28, a pro-Israel fanatic, fired 17 shots at a father and son in Miami Beach, injuring both. Believing he had killed them, he smiled and told police, “I killed two Palestinians.”
— Kashif Chaudhry (@KashifMD) February 17, 2025
Where was he radicalized? And where are the congressional hearings to… pic.twitter.com/3T9xOda2IV
There has been a marked increase in Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian attacks in the US since Israel’s war on Gaza broke out 16 months ago.
In October 2023, a six-year-old Palestinian American was fatally stabbed 26 times and his mother seriously wounded in the state of Illinois, in an attack officials say was linked to the Israel-Palestine war and because they identified as Muslim.
Two months later, three Palestinian-American students were speaking Arabic and wearing keffiyehs and were en route to dinner when they were shot by a gunman in Burlington, Vermont.
Claims of antisemitism
Several social media users shared screenshots from the Facebook account of one of the victims, in which he claimed that the attack against him and his father was an “anti-semitic” one.
Moments after being shot, the Israeli man who was the victim of the shooting took to social media and wrote, “My father and I went through a murder attempt against anti-semitic background.” He finished his social media post with the words, “Death to Arabs.”
Where was Mordechai Brafman radicalised?
— Conscious Stranger (@aware_wanderer) February 17, 2025
Mordechai Brafman, 28, a staunch pro-Israel extremist, fired 17 shots at a father and son in Miami Beach, wounding both. Under the false impression that he had killed them, he reportedly smiled and told police, “I killed two… pic.twitter.com/GsyfoXfDUW
The victims reportedly told police they were victims of an antisemitic attack, according to accounts on social media.
Many expressed their disbelief with the response from the victim because it was widely reported by the media and noted by the police report that the attack was provoked by anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab sentiments.
The Times of Israel reported that there was no altercation between Brafman and the two victims before the shooting, which they described as unprovoked.
Social media users criticised the way mainstream media reported the incident, saying that the term “terrorism” has not been uttered by anyone.
ISRAELI JEWISH MAN SHOOTS 2 ISRAELIS IN MIAMI THINKING THEY WERE PALESTINIANS
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) February 17, 2025
Mordechai Brafman, “I killed two Palestinians.”
Notice the term terrorism wasn’t used for him & right-wing accounts have not posted about it. pic.twitter.com/UgwWCzMLxw
After the attack, the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) called for federal hate crime charges to be brought against Brafman.
"We urge state and federal law enforcement authorities to bring hate crime charges in this case based on the alleged perpetrator’s statements to police that reportedly indicate an anti-Palestinian motive," Cair's Florida communications director, Wilfredo Amr Ruiz, said.
According to a 2024 report by Cair, there has been an unprecedented rise in Islamophobic incidents throughout 2023 and 2024, with Cair receiving 8,061 complaints of anti-Muslim discrimination nationwide in 2024 alone.
Cair said that compared to 2023, there was a sixty-nine percent increase in these complaints in 2024.
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