Texas woman charged with attempted drowning of Palestinian-American child

Al Enteshar Newspaper – Los Angeles

A grand jury has formally indicted a Texas woman in the attempted drowning of a 3-year-old Palestinian-American Muslim girl in May, in an incident that local police say was motivated by racial bias, Reuters reported.

A Tarrant County grand jury indicted suspect Elizabeth Wolfe, 42, in an indictment filed last month that included an aggravated hate crime charge, according to court records unsealed Tuesday. That could lead to a harsher sentence for Wolfe if she is convicted.

Elizabeth Wolf is charged with attempted murder, which carries a possible death penalty, of a child under 10, and willful bodily harm to the child.

The police report says the incident happened in May at a swimming pool at an apartment complex in the Euless suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth, when the suspect got into an argument with the girl’s mother, who also had a 6-year-old son in the pool, after the suspect asked the mother where she was from.

The police report said the suspect tried to drown the child and grab the other child.

The police said that the mother was able to pull her daughter out of the water, and paramedics rushed to the scene, and medical authorities confirmed the safety of the two children.

Human rights advocates have warned of increased threats facing American Muslims, Arabs and Jews since the outbreak of the Israeli war on Gaza.

The United States also recently witnessed the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy in Illinois in October, the stabbing of a Palestinian-American in Texas in February, and the shooting of three Palestinian-American students in Vermont in November.

In August, a former Cornell University student was sentenced to 21 months in prison for posting threats against Jews online, and a Jordanian national in Florida was charged with threatening companies because he believed they supported Israel.

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