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A 71-year-old Chicago landlord yelled “you Muslims must die” before fatally stabbing a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy and wounding his 32-year-old mother in an attack driven by the Hamas-Israel war.
Six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume was attacked along with his mother, Hanaan Shahin, in their home on Sunday.
Their landlord, Joseph M. Czuba, is accused of bursting into their apartment and attacking the pair with a military grade knife.
Shahin had more than a dozen stab wounds on her body. She remained hospitalized Sunday but is expected to survive. Her six-year-old son was killed.
President Joe Biden is among those to have condemned Czuba’s hateful attack, saying, “There is no place in America for hate against anyone.”
Shahin sought asylum in the US from the West Bank 12 years ago. Her son was born in Illinois.
Officers found both victims late Saturday morning at a home in an unincorporated area of Plainfield Township, roughly 40 miles southwest of Chicago.
Czuba was found Saturday outside ‘sitting upright outside on the ground near the driveway of the residence’ with a cut on his forehead, police in Will County, Illinois.
Police charged him with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crimes and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian-American boy who had recently turned 6, and his mother, Hanaan Shahin, were identified as the victims.
They had lived on the ground floor of the house for two years, according to the organization, saying the suspect was their landlord.
Citing text messages from the mother to the boy’s father, the suspect reportedly yelled, “You Muslims must die!” ahead of the stabbing, according to CAIR-Chicago.
The Muslim civil liberties organization called the crime “our worst nightmare,” and part of a disturbing spike in hate calls and emails since the outbreak of violence in the Middle East.
Speaking alongside the family members of the victims, CAIR Executive Director Ahmed Rehab said Czuba choked Shahin after they’d allowed him in their apartment.
She briefly escaped to the bathroom to call 911 but by the time she returned, Czuba had found her son and murdered him, Rehab alleged.
“[Al-Fayoume] paid the price for the atmosphere of hate and otherization and dehumanization that, frankly, I think we are seeing here in the United States, as a result of the irresponsible leadership and lopsided, one-sided statements we are seeing in the media,” Rehab said.
He then went on to compare the atmosphere that led to Al-Fayoume’s death to the one in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
“We’ve warned about not creating the same mistake we had in the post-9/11 environment,” he added.
“We got promises that we would not fall back into that ugly, dark world again and here we are. Ultimately, the blame lies in the perpetrator, I blame the murder on the murderer.”
However, he still felt that the media and politicians had influenced Czuba, whom he said had interacted with the family several times before and caused no suspicion.
Biden also released a statement after news of the boy’s death.
“Jill and I were shocked and sickened to learn of the brutal murder of a six-year-old child and the attempted murder of the child’s mother in their home yesterday in Illinois,” the statement read.
“The child’s Palestinian Muslim family came to America seeking what we all seek—a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace.
“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.
“As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred. I have said repeatedly that I will not be silent in the face of hate. We must be unequivocal. There is no place in America for hate against anyone.
“We join everyone here at the White House in sending our condolences and prayers to the family, including for the mother’s recovery, and to the broader Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim American communities.”
*MailOnline
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