Muslim NY mayoral candidate reports threats; Jewish Ohio lawmaker was threatened separately

The New York City Police Department says its hate crime unit is probing anti-Muslim threats against mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, while in another incident, US Representative Max Miller of Ohio says he was “run off the road” by another driver with a Palestinian flag.

These marked the latest US incidents to raise concerns about the rise in hate against Americans of Muslim, Arab, Jewish, Israeli and Palestinian heritage since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in late 2023.

An NYPD spokesperson says police received reports that on Wednesday at 9:45 a.m., Mamdani, a Democratic state assembly member and mayoral candidate, reported that he “received four phone voicemails, on various dates, making threatening anti-Muslim statements by an unknown individual.”

There have not been any arrests so far, and the investigation remained ongoing, the NYPD added. The New York Daily News reported that a man threatened to blow up Mamdani’s car. Mamdani has no immediate comment.

Separately, Republican US Representative Max Miller from Ohio say on X he was “run off the road” in the city of Rocky River on Thursday while he and his family were threatened by a person with a Palestinian flag. He said he had filed a police report.

“Today I was run off the road in Rocky River, and the life of me and my family was threatened by a person who proceeded to show a Palestinian flag before taking off,” says Miller, who is Jewish and pro-Israeli. He labeled the incident, which was also condemned by top congressional Democrats, as antisemitic.