In a strange twist of events, a woman ended up in police custody after purposefully crashing her Chevrolet Impala into what she thought was a Jewish educational institution in Indiana. Indianapolis authorities report that at 11:30 p.m. on Friday, 34-year-old Muslim woman Ruba Almaghtheh was involved in an incident. The local law enforcement agency, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, promptly took her into custody, and based on her jail records, she is presently facing charges related to criminal recklessness.
At the time of the collision, one adult, one infant under seven months old, and three children under three were inside the establishment, according to court documents. Interestingly, not one of them was hurt.
It was found that the building was referred to as a “Israel school” by Ms. Almaghtheh. However, the facility in question is associated with the Radical Hebrew Israelites, a group that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as an extremist organization with an anti-Israel and antisemitic stance.
Also Read: 100,000 People Damage Historical Monuments of Washington DC
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office has not yet made a decision regarding the charges in this case. Interestingly, a police report on the incident states that investigators believe hatred was the driving force behind the act.
According to a news release, officials quickly notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about the incident.
In the course of her interview with the police, Almaghtheh admitted that the Israel-Hamas conflict she was watching had an impact on her decision to carry out the attack. In an affidavit, she stated that she intended to carry out the assault by driving into the Indianapolis building.
In addition, she made reference to her ties to Palestine when she said that she was “watching the news and could not breathe anymore.”
Almaghtheh’s car was particularly noteworthy because it had rear-end damage, and in the affidavit, she acknowledged that she had purposefully crashed her car into the building when speaking with her sister.
Remarkably, it has been reported that the building in question has been intentionally damaged on several prior occasions.
The Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council conveyed that there isn’t a current threat to the local Jewish community. Nonetheless, they emphasized the importance of maintaining security protocols, staying vigilant against suspicious activities, and promptly reporting such matters to the relevant authorities in a statement.
