Ex-rideshare driver accused in California antisemitic attack charged with federal hate crime

Federal prosecutors charged a former rideshare driver in connection with an antisemitic attack on a passenger at San Francisco International Airport in 2023 that occurred weeks after the Hamas-led shock incursion into Israel on October 7 that sparked the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

The 39-year-old man was arrested today and was in court for his initial appearance. He is charged with committing a federal hate crime and faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The alleged attack occurred on Oct. 26, 2023, when federal prosecutors say the defendant approached the victim at a pickup spot and asked if they were Jewish or Israeli, saying he would not transport a Jewish or Israeli person. He then punched the victim in the face, prosecutors allege.

The indictment did not mention whether the victim was actually Jewish or Israeli, only that the defendant perceived them to be.

The defendant’s federal public defender did not immediately return a request for comment.

US would support limited IDF operation in Rafah to go after high-value Hamas targets — report

US officials have relayed to Israeli counterparts that the Biden administration would support a limited operation in Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah, that would prioritize “high-value” Hamas targets in and underneath the city and forgo a large-scale offensive, Politico reports, citing four US officials.

The US has opposed an Israeli offensive in Rafah — believed to be Hamas’s last stronghold and home to its last four battalions — without a plan to protect over a million displaced Gazans who have found refuge in the city from fighting in the northern and central parts of the Palestinian enclave. Other countries have also warned Israel against an invasion of Rafah.

But unnamed officials tell Politico that in private meetings, top administration officials have told the Israelis that the US would back a strategy for “counterterrorism operations” in Rafah rather than full-scale war, like elsewhere in Gaza.

An Israeli official tells the publication that some kind of offensive or operation in Gaza is inevitable.

“At the end of the day, we cannot win this war without defeating Hamas’ battalions in Rafah,” the official says.

Earlier today, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant hinted that Israel will soon launch a ground operation in Rafah in southern Gaza while on a visit to Gaza City.

“There is no safe place in Gaza for terrorists…Those who think that we are delaying will soon see that we will reach everyone,” he says. “We will bring to justice anyone who was involved in October 7 — either we will eliminate them or bring them to trial in Israel. There is no safe place, not here, not outside of Gaza, not anywhere across the Middle East — we will bring everyone to their place.”

A Defense Department official tells Politico that the US has not picked up that an offensive on Rafah is imminent.

“They’d have to do some repositioning of forces, and that has not happened,” says the official. “It’s not imminent.”

“Israel is going to do what Israel decides to do. It’s kind of like trying to predict the weather,” the official adds. “But has the message sent been heard? Yes.”

Blinken: US coordinating multinational effort to get maritime aid corridor into Gaza up and running

Washington is working to coordinate a multinational effort to set up a maritime aid corridor into Gaza, says US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, part of a US strategy of “flooding the zone” with humanitarian assistance.

Blinken held a video conference earlier with officials from Cyprus, Britain, the UAE, Qatar, the European Union and the United Nations to discuss getting the new route up and running.

The US was also working with Israel on the corridor, also supported by Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Canada, but it would take time to establish the corridor, Blinken tells reporters at the State Department.

“I want to emphasize it is a complement to, not a substitute for, other ways of getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza, and in particular overland routes remain the most critical way to get assistance in and then to people who need it,” Blinken says.

Blinken says Israel needs to open as many land crossings into Gaza as possible, noting that shipments into northern Gaza began this week through a crossing known as the 96th gate. The US military has also dropped meals into the strip from aircraft.

“Overland routes remain the most critical way to get assistance in and then to people who need it, but this will help close the gap,” he says

But Blinken took a distance from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, whom he met earlier in the day and who said Tuesday at the United Nations that Israel was using food as a “war arm.”

“Of course the Israelis have been not only allowing food in, they have been working to make sure that it gets in and gets to people who need it,” Blinken says.

“The bottom line is we need to see… flooding the zone when it comes to humanitarian assistance for Gaza,” Blinken says, adding that Washington continues to push for a deal that would see a temporary pause in fighting and the release of remaining hostages held in Gaza.

Blinken says there is a “strong proposal on the table right now for a [temporary] ceasefire and the question is whether Hamas will take it.” Washington, he says is “intensely engaged every single day, every single hour to achieve a ceasefire.”

He also says the US is committed “to make sure that Israel has the means to defend itself.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.