FORT WORTH, Texas — A Texas woman was sentenced to five years in prison for trying to drown a 3-year-old Palestinian-American Muslim girl at an apartment pool in Euless in May 2024, an attack police said was driven by bias.
Judge Andy Porter handed down the sentence to Elizabeth Wolf, 43, after she pleaded guilty to attempted murder and injury to a child, according to court records and reports by CBS News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Wolf, who was indicted last year, waived a jury trial. The attack drew condemnation from then-President Joe Biden.
Police said Wolf confronted the children’s mother at the pool, asked where the family was from and then tried to drown the 3-year-old while also reaching for the girl’s 6-year-old brother. The mother pulled her daughter from the water. Medics evaluated both children and cleared them.
Advocacy groups say threats against Muslims, Arabs and Jews have risen since the Israel-Hamas war escalated in 2023.
Recent incidents cited by rights groups include the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy in Illinois, the stabbing of a Palestinian-American man in Texas and a mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters in California. In Florida, two Israeli visitors were shot by a suspect who allegedly mistook them for Palestinians, and in New York City a crowd assaulted demonstrators while chanting “death to Arabs.”
Incidents alarming Jewish communities include the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington, a Colorado attack that killed one person and an arson attack at the home of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Originally published by Times Live
