Texas probes woman over 'drowning attack' on US-Palestine child

A Texas woman has been charged with attempted capital murder after allegedly trying to drown a 3-year-old Palestinian Muslim girl in an apartment complex swimming pool, according to media outlets.

Reports released on Sunday revealed that Elizabeth Wolf, 42, was arrested on May 19 in the Dallas suburb of Euless, a day after the incident took place.

Investigators said a disturbance was reported between two women at the apartment pool where Wolf questioned the 32-year-old mother about her country of origin, as she was wearing a Muslim headscarf.

Police said Wolf attempted to grab the woman's 6-year-old son, who was able to get away, then tried drowning her 3-year-old daughter in the pool.

"The mother began helping her son when Wolf grabbed her 3-year-old daughter and forced her underwater," police told reporters.

"The mother was able to pull back her daughter from the water. Her daughter had been yelling for help and was coughing up water."

Authorities said witnesses told them that Wolf was intoxicated and spewed racist remarks at the mother and her children regarding their nationality.

"We are American citizens originally from Palestine, and I don't know where to go to feel safe with my kids," the mom, identified only as Mrs. H, told news outlets in the aftermath of the incident.

"My country is facing a war, and we are facing that hate here," she continued. "My daughter is traumatised. Whenever I open the apartment door, she runs away and hides, telling me she is afraid the lady will come and immerse her head in the water again."

President Joe Biden said on Monday he was "deeply disturbed" by reports of the incident.

Euless police Captian Brenda Alvarado told The Associated Press that the department has requested that prosecutors in Tarrant County treat the case as a hate crime.

Hate crime

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) alleged that Wolf also snatched the mother's headscarf off while she tried to save her daughter and beat her with it.

The Austin, Texas chapter of CAIR has called on state and federal authorities to probe the incident as a hate crime.

"We are seeing a new level of bigotry here where a person deeply believes they get to decide, based on religion, spoken language and country of origin, whose kids deserve to stay alive and whose don't," said CAIR Austin operations manager Shaimaa Zayan in a statement.

Euless police Captain Brenda Alvarado told The Associated Press that the department has requested that prosecutors in Tarrant County treat the case as a hate crime.

Wolf was charged with several counts, including attempted capital murder, injury to a child and public intoxication.

Spike in Islamophobia

There has been a spike in Islamophobic incidents in the West and the US since the start of Israel's genocidal war in besieged Gaza.

Officials were quick to address alleged anti-semitic incidents, especially as pro-Palestine protests started to rock the US in the streets, university campuses and weapon manufacturers.

However, Islamophobic incidents were not taken as seriously.

Other Islamophobic attacks include the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old boy in Illinois in October who was targeted because he was Palestinian American.

In November, three students of Palestinian descent were shot in Vermont in another hate-motivated crime.

In February, a Palestinian American man was stabbed in Texas in what police said met the definition of a hate crime.