Ohio man charged for allegedly threatening Jewish congressman

Police in Ohio say they arrested a man after he allegedly ran a Jewish US Congressman off a road, threatened the politician and his family, and yelled antisemitic slurs and waved a Palestinian flag before fleeing.

Police in Rocky River, Ohio, say in a statement that they had arrested Feras Hamdan, 36, of Ohio, in connection to the alleged targeting on Thursday of US Representative Max Miller, a Republican representing Ohio, in the suburb about 10 miles (16 km) west of downtown Cleveland. Hamdan, police say, voluntarily turned himself into police.

Hamdan was arraigned earlier today and charged with aggravated menacing and ethnic intimidation, according to Deborah Comery, the Rocky River Municipal Court clerk. Hamdan, who could face up to five months in jail, pleaded not guilty and is being held on a $500,000 bond.

Hamdan’s attorney, Issa Elkhatib, says in a written statement that the allegations against Hamdan were “baseless and outrageous” and that they “amount to defamatory attacks on his character and reputation.”

Elkhatib says that Hamdan was a respected local doctor who had no prior criminal history, and that he was confident “the truth will win and that Dr. Hamdan’s good name will be fully vindicated.”

The Rocky River police statement says that Miller called 911 on Thursday morning to report that he was run off the road while traveling with his family on Interstate 90 in Ohio. The police said Miller reported an assailant yelled antisemitic slurs and waved a Palestinian flag.