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A Muslim physician threatened to kill a Jewish congressman from Ohio, and that’s only one small part of what he did. On Tuesday, that errant doctor was indicted, but the deep hatreds that led to his behavior remain, and we will see them play out again.

The victim, Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), says that it was a “bizarre” incident, adding: “The whole thing was weird.” There is no doubt about that. How many times does a man who is professionally dedicated to healing and improving lives threaten to take one? All in all, however, Miller’s characterization is a trifle too cavalier. It was something far worse than bizarre and weird: it was an ominous sign of the times, and of the direction in which our society is heading unless things change, and change drastically, before it’s too late.

It happened on June 19. Miller recounted: “I’m on the freeway. I have somebody who has cut me off, who is flipping me off, who is showing me a Palestinian flag, and is yelling to kill me.” This was Rep. Miller’s introduction to Dr. Feras Hamdan, a physician in Avon, Ohio, who also screamed at him that old standby of ayatollahs and other hate-filled people everywhere: “Death to Israel.”

Cleveland Jewish News (CJN) reported Wednesday that it happened when Miller and Hamdan were both driving on Ohio’s Interstate 90 in Rocky River, and Hamdan started honking his horn at Miller. Miller paid no attention, but Hamdan persisted, pulling his car “window-to-window with me,” says Miller. Once their cars were side by side, the good doctor began “screaming” at the congressman.

The case against Hamdan doesn’t rely solely on Miller’s word. CJN reports that “a video found by police on a cell phone with the device name ‘iPhone Feras’ depicts Miller driving on I-90, while a disembodied voice said, ‘This is the congressman. That piece of s**t, fa**ot congressman that’s against Falastin [Palestine]. That’s crazy. That’s crazy. That’s crazy. This racist, Jewish – he can’t even look at me. He knows I’m recording him.”

Not only was Hamdan a model of interstate highway driving etiquette, but a burning, obsessive hatred of Miller had been germinating in his soul for quite some time. Hamdan was “involved in a WhatsApp message group, which included 11 other people,” who got to hear all about how much he hated the local Jewish congressman. “Messages sent by Hamdan in the group thread include ‘Maxwell miller pos” and “Bro you won’t believe who I got into it w this am.’”

Also, in a different WhatsApp conversation back in 2023, Hamdan raged at Miller as “the BIGGEST ZIONIST” and “a bigot MF.” The person with whom Hamdan was speaking replied: “We need to vote him out at any cost next elections.” Hamdan had other ideas for how to deal with Miller.

As Hamdan was indicted, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley said: “Threatening violence towards an elected official and their family is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. This type of mindless behavior is happening all too frequently in our country and it must come to an end. We are thankful no one was injured during this incident and for the exceptional investigation by the Rocky River Police Department which led to this prompt arrest and indictment.”

That’s a fine example of the usual boilerplate, Mr. O’Malley, and it’s understandable that you’d haul it out at this point, because after all, what else can you say? “You will find the Jews and the idolaters the most vehement of mankind in hostility to those who believe,” says the Qur’an (5:82), and all too often that statement plays out in the way it did with Max Miller and Feras Hamdan: with a Muslim being vehement in hostility against a Jew.

Yet there is no chance whatsoever that Islamic antisemitism will be discussed at the trial of Feras Hamdan. His behavior will be treated as a one-off instance of a man losing control and endangering himself and someone else, and — one hopes — he will be punished accordingly. Yet the longer that the political and media establishment continues to ignore the deep antisemitism that is ingrained in the Islamic religion, the more people there will be in America who act the way Feras Hamdan did when he spotted Max Miller on I-90, and worse. Officials may ignore Islamic antisemitism, but Islamic antisemites will not ignore their targets.