WASHINGTON: The New York City police department said on Thursday its hate crime unit was probing anti-Muslim threats against mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, and in another incident Representative Max Miller of Ohio alleged he was “run off the road” by a driver with a Palestinian flag.

These marked the latest incidents to raise concerns about a rise in hate against Americans of Muslim, Arab, Jewish, Israeli and Palestinian heritage since the start of the Gaza conflict in 2023.

A spokesperson said police received reports that on Wednesday, Mam­dani, a Democratic state assembly member and mayoral candidate, complained 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 an investigation remained ongoing, the spokesperson said. The New York Daily News reported a man threatened to blow up Mamdani’s car.

On the other hand, Repu­blican US Representa­tive Max Miller from Ohio alleged 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,” said Miller, who is Jewish and pro-Israeli.

He labelled the incident as `antisemitic’.

Published in Dawn, June 21th, 2025