US woman indicted for attempted drowning of three-year-old Palestinian girl
Elizabeth Wolf poses for an undated police booking photograph in the Dallas suburb of Euless, Texas PHOTO:Al Jazeera
A Texas woman has been formally indicted on charges related to the attempted drowning of a three-year-old Palestinian-American girl earlier this year.
Elizabeth Wolf, 42, faces charges of attempted capital murder and intentionally causing bodily injury to a child, with a hate crime enhancement included in the indictment.
The indictment, filed last month in Tarrant County, Texas, alleges that Wolf's actions were driven by racial hatred.
According to a police report, the incident occurred in May at a swimming pool in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Euless.
Wolf reportedly approached the mother of the children with racially motivated questions before attempting to drown the three-year-old and grab the six-year-old boy.
The mother was able to pull her daughter from the water, police said, and local medics responded to the scene and the children were medically cleared.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas) has condemned the attack as a hate crime and highlighted the rising threats against Palestinian-Americans, Muslims, and other minority groups amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Human rights advocates have warned about rising threats against American Muslims, Arabs and Jews since the eruption of Israel's war in Gaza.
Other recent alarming US incidents include the October fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy in Illinois, the February stabbing of a Palestinian American man in Texas and the November shooting of three Palestinian American students in Vermont.
A former Cornell University student was sentenced in August to 21 months in prison for posting online threats against Jews, and a Jordanian citizen in Florida was charged over threats against businesses over perceived support of Israel.