Elham Asaad Buaras
On September 4, a woman from Texas was charged over the attempted drowning of a three-year-old Palestinian-American girl, with the incident believed to have been racially motivated. A grand jury in Tarrant County indicted Elizabeth Wolf, 42, on charges of attempted capital murder of a child under the age of 10, as well as intentionally inflicting bodily harm on a minor.
Wolf was arrested in May after attempting to drown a young girl at a swimming pool in an apartment complex in Euless, a suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth, allegedly because the child was Muslim. The girl’s six-year-old brother was also injured during the incident. The indictment, filed on August 15, includes a hate crime enhancement, which could increase the severity of Wolf’s sentence if she is convicted.
Investigators allege that Wolf was intoxicated during the incident. According to the police report, she approached a Muslim woman wearing a hijab—identified as Mrs H—at an apartment complex pool in May. Wolf is said to have made racist remarks, questioning Mrs H about her family’s origins and whether the two children in the pool were hers. A few minutes later, she allegedly attempted to drown the 3-year-old and tried to grab the 6-year-old boy.
“Wolf tried to grab the six-year-old son, but he pulled away from her grasp, which caused a scratch on his finger. The mother began helping her son when Wolf grabbed her three-year-old daughter and forced her underwater. The mother was able to pull her daughter from the water. Her daughter had been yelling for help and was coughing up water,” Euless police said.
Mrs H was able to pull her daughter from the water, police said, and local medics responded to the scene, and the children were medically cleared. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported that a Black man stepped in to help rescue the young girl from the attacker, as a crowd began to gather, witnessing the incident. CAIR emphasised that they are deeply traumatised by the event.
As police handcuffed Wolf, she allegedly shouted to a witness who was with Mrs H, “Tell her I will kill her and her whole family,” the organisation said. Mrs H also informed CAIR that Wolf had allegedly torn off her hijab and proceeded to beat and kick her, preventing her from reaching her daughter while the suspect held the child’s head underwater.
In a statement, the distressed mother said, “We are American citizens, originally from Palestine, and I don’t know where to go to feel safe with my kids. My country is facing a war, and we are facing that hate here. 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. Also, my husband’s employment is jeopardised due to having to leave work to accompany me and our four kids whenever we have appointments and errands to run.”
As of September 6, a GoFundMe campaign launched to support the family has already raised over $16,000 (£12,000). This fundraising effort comes amid increasing concerns from human rights advocates about escalating threats against American Muslims, Arabs, and Jews following the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza conflict.
In recent troubling incidents in the US, a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy was fatally stabbed in Illinois in October. In February, a Palestinian American man was stabbed in Texas, and in November, three Palestinian American students were shot in Vermont. Additionally, a former Cornell University student was sentenced in August to 21 months in prison for posting online threats against Jews, and a Jordanian citizen in Florida faces charges for threatening businesses over their perceived support of Israel.
Photo: Elizabeth Wolf. (Credit: Euless Police Department)
