A Muslim mayoral contender in New York reports threats, while a Jewish congressman in Ohio received separate threats
Police in New York City said Thursday that their hate crime unit was looking into anti-Muslim threats against Zohran Mamdani, who is running for mayor. In a separate incident, U.S. Representative Max Miller of Ohio said he was “run off the road” by a car with a Palestinian flag.
Since Israel’s war in Gaza began in late 2023, these were the most recent events in the U.S. that made people worried about the rise in hate crimes against Muslim, Arab, Jewish, Israeli, and Palestinian Americans.
According to a spokesperson for the NYPD, Mamdani, a Democratic state assembly member and mayoral candidate, told police on Wednesday at 9:45 a.m. that he “received four phone voicemails, on different dates, making threatening anti-Muslim statements by an unknown person.”
The NYPD also said that no one has been arrested yet and that the probe is still going on. According to the New York Daily News, a guy said he would blow up Mamdani’s car. As of right now, Mamdani had nothing to say.
Representative Max Miller, a Republican from Ohio, said on X that he and his family were attacked by someone carrying a Palestinian flag in the city of Rocky River on Thursday and were “run off the road.” Apparently, he had called the cops.
Miller, who is Jewish and supports Israel, said, “Today someone ran me off the road in Rocky River and threatened my family and my life.” The person then flagged a Palestinian flag and drove off. He called the event racist, which was also the view of leading Democrats in Congress.
Recently, two Israeli embassy workers were shot and killed in Washington, D.C., and eight people were hurt when a suspect threw explosives into a crowd of pro-Israel supporters in Colorado. These events have raised concerns about racism and anti-Israel views in the U.S.
The stabbing death of a Palestinian child aged 6 in Illinois, the attempted drowning death of a Palestinian American girl aged 3, and the violent attack on pro-Palestinian protesters in California are all shocking examples of bias against Muslims and Palestinians.
