GEOFF BENNETT: The shooting of three college students this holiday weekend has added more fear and concern about a rise in bias, discrimination, and violent attacks against Arab Americans and Muslims in the U.S. William Brangham has the story.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Forty-eight-year-old Jason Eaton was arraigned today in connection with the shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont over the weekend.

He's charged with three counts of attempted murder in the second degree.

Authorities say he shot the man without saying a word, and while no motive has been determined, the shooting is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

The uncle of Kinnan Abdalhamid, one of the victims, spoke today at a news conference.

RADI TAMIMI, Uncle of Shooting Victim: Kinnan grew up in the West Bank, and we always thought that that could be more of a risk in terms of his safety, and sending him here would be the right decision.

We feel somehow betrayed in that decision here.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In addition to Abdalhamid, families identified the other victims as Hisham Awartani and Tahseen Aliahmad.

Relatives said the three were walking to dinner on a residential street when they were suddenly attacked.

Two of them were wearing keffiyehs, a traditional Palestinian headdress, and they were reportedly speaking a mixture of English and Arabic.

Awartani is a junior at Brown University, Abdalhamid a student at Haverford College, and Aliahmad attends Connecticut's Trinity College.

They were in Vermont for Thanksgiving, visiting one of their families.

Today, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that because of the Israeli-Hamas conflict, tensions here are high.

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. Attorney General: All of us have also seen a sharp increase in the volume and frequency of threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities across our country since October 7.

There is understandable fear in communities across the country.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This shooting comes amid a documented rise in Islamophobia and anti-Arab incidents.

Since the Israel-Hamas conflict began, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has received over 1,200 requests for help or reports of bias, a 216 percent surge from the same time last year.

Those incidents include at least one murder, two other attempted murders and numerous violent threats involving guns being discharged or brandished.

On October 15, 6-year-old Chicago resident Wadea Al-Fayoume killed, stabbed 26 times by his landlord.

Officials say he targeted the family because they were Muslim.

The alleged shooter in Burlington pleaded not guilty today, and the three young men are being treated at a local hospital.

While the motive for this attack is still unclear, some groups argue officials should clearly consider this a hate crime.

Abed Ayoub is the national executive director of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee.

He's been in regular touch with the families of the three students.

Could you first tell us how these three young men are doing?

ABED AYOUB, National Executive Director, Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee: The young men right now are, first of all, relieved that the person responsible for their shooting has been apprehended and is in custody.

And Burlington is safer with him off of the streets.

One of them is recovered fully.

He should be released from the hospital soon.

If not, he was released already.

And two of them are -- have some injuries that they are overcoming, one of them some very serious injuries, but they are -- they have a long road of recovery ahead of them physically and emotionally as well.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And how are the families doing?

We heard one of the uncles describing how his nephew moving to the U.S. from the West Bank was considered by the families to be the safe choice.

How are they all processing this?

ABED AYOUB: This has come as a shock to the family members and to the community.

They're having a difficult time.

They had a difficult time initially being overseas, comprehending everything, putting everything together and flying over here.

The students were at the grandmother's house of one of the victims.

So it's good that there were some relatives there, some familiar faces there, but it's difficult when you're thousands of miles away and your son gets shot.

It's a whirlwind of emotions and trying to gather yourself.

But a lot of folks in the community have stepped up.

And they are on their way here.

And, hopefully, they will be with their children soon.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As we reported, we still don't know what the motive is here, whether this was a random attack or whether these young men were specifically targeted because they're Palestinian.

The families, as you know, put out a statement today saying they clearly believe that this is a hate crime.

And I want to read an excerpt of this.

They place the blame on: "U.S. media and even elected officials from the highest levels of the government have repeated racist and dehumanizing language in recent weeks.

This hateful rhetoric emboldens people to act with violence."

I'm curious, do you share that same belief?

ABED AYOUB: Absolutely.

Our belief has been that the rhetoric against Arabs, against Palestinians in this country, the dehumanization of Palestinians would eventually lead to these violent hate crimes we're seeing.

That's exactly what's happening.

That's what happened in Chicago to Wadea, the 6-year-old was stabbed.

That's what happened in this situation and other examples that our office has been fielding across the country since early October.

So the rhetoric, the way we're being dehumanized and the way Arabs and Palestinians are being portrayed leads to these violent hate crimes.

And, unfortunately, this may not be the last incident we hear of, unless there's an effort to change the rhetoric and to change the way we are being portrayed.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: What would you like to see local and national leaders do in this moment?

I mean, I know on social media you wrote that you wanted college campuses and college leaders to make sure that Arab and Muslim students are safe on campuses.

What would you like our leaders to do?

ABED AYOUB: The first thing they can do is recognize that the Arab and Palestinian community here is under attack and hate incidents are on the rise and work with the community to push some of that hate and some of that incidents away from us, right?

They can do that by changing the rhetoric and stop the attacks, the baseless attacks on the community, going after Palestinian student groups, going after Palestinian students, allowing for the doxxing of Arab and Palestinian students on your college campuses.

All of that eventually is going to lead down one road, and that's going to be violent hate crimes.

So we have to stop a lot of these things that are happening on college campuses and in the general public.

And our elected officials, our leaders need to stand up to those, say, enough is enough.

We don't need to see any more of the doxxing.

We don't need to see any more of the targeting.

We don't need to shut down Arab and Palestinian student groups.

We can engage in civil discourse and in debate, but we don't need to go as far as to start vilifying individuals just to shut them down and keep them quiet.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, at the same time, obviously, what is happening with -- between Israel and Hamas is horrifying to watch.

And there are groups on both sides supporting the Israelis and groups supporting the Palestinians here in the U.S., and they have a legal right to be protesting.

How do you counsel people how to express their First Amendment rights while also staying safe in the United States?

ABED AYOUB: Both sides do have a First Amendment right to protest, but only one side is consistently under attack and having that right taken away.

So the basic fundamental right of protest and assembly for Arabs and Palestinians in this country, that within itself is under attack, and that should worry all Americans, where, if you can start taking away the right of protest and assembly of individuals you disagree with, then we have nothing left when it comes to the First Amendment on our campuses and elsewhere.

So this is a critical moment in our country's history.

This is bigger than a Palestine protest or a pro-Israel protest.

This is an attack on our fundamental freedoms in this country, and people need to start paying attention.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right.

Abed Ayoub of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, thank you so much for being here.

ABED AYOUB: Thank you.

I appreciate it.