Six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian Muslim living in the United States, was murdered in an alleged hate crime after being stabbed 26 times on 14 October, the Illinois-based Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Al-Fayoume’s mother, Hanaan Shahin, was stabbed over a dozen times and was transported to the hospital in serious condition, but is expected to make a recovery.
The suspect, landlord Joseph M. Czuba, did not make a statement to the police, but ‘“detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the sheriff’s office said.
Czuba is being charged with first degree murder, attempted first degree murder, two counts of hate crimes, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Al-Fayoume had just celebrated his sixth birthday, CNN reports.
“This horrific act of hate has no place in America, and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe, and who we are,” US president Joe Biden said in a statement issued by the White House.
“As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred,” Biden added.
Illinois governor JB Pritzker also condemned the murder.
“Wadea should be heading to school this morning. Instead, his parents will wake up without their son. This wasn’t just a murder—it was a hate crime,” the governor said in a statement.
“Every single Illinoisan – including our Muslim, Jewish and Palestinian neighbors – deserves to live free from the threat of such evil,” Pritzker added.
Fueling tensions, misinformation has been widespread amid the current conflict in Palestine and Israel, some of which has been reported by major news outlets and propagated by government officials, including Biden, who had previously referenced the unconfirmed reports of babies beheaded by Hamas.
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