Slain Palestinian-American boy mourned as stabbing suspect appears in court

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Mourners gathered in prayer at an Illinois mosque and placed white and yellow roses at the gravesite of a six-year-old Muslim boy stabbed to death by a man who police say targeted him and his mother because they were Palestinian-Americans.
Services for the boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, took place at the Mosque Foundation in the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview, a community known as “Little Palestine” for its heavy concentration of Palestinian Americans.

Palestinian flags hung from the windows of cars in a procession toward the mosque, where a digital billboard read: “Stop inciting violence and hatred against Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities.”

US Israel Palestinians Hate Crime Illinois

Six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume was buried on Monday. Police said that, amid heightened emotions over the Israel-Hamas conflict, the boy was attacked because he was Muslim. Credit: AP

In the basement of the mosque, women and children huddled and cried, while outside, dozens of people flanked the speakers, including two men who waved Palestinian flags. Mourners chanted “Free Palestine” at the burial site.

The killing on Saturday came a week .

The conflict has put Jewish and Palestinian Muslim communities in the United States on edge and fearful of a potential backlash against them.

Muslim women wearing headscarves of various colours cry and comfort one another.

Muslim community members cry at the grave of Wadea Al-Fayoume. Source: AP / Nam Y. Huh

Police said the six-year-old and his mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, were attacked by their landlord on Saturday in Plainfield Township, about 64km southwest of Chicago. The boy was stabbed 26 times while his mother suffered multiple wounds. She was expected to survive.

“This is a heavy day. It is a worst nightmare come true,” Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago Council On American Islamic Relations office, said on Monday.
“He was a lovely boy. Loved his family, friends. He loved soccer, basketball. He paid the price for the atmosphere of hate.”

Iman Negrete, a Palestinian-American who lives in Plainfield, is from the same town in the occupied Palestinian territories as the mother. She wept as she stood next to a makeshift memorial made up of stuffed animals, saying she does not feel safe in the community because of her background.

A women wearing dark-coloured clothes kneels in front of a grave with her head in her hands.

A woman mourns the death of Wadea Al-Fayoume. Source: AP / Nam Y. Huh

The boy’s mother came from the West Bank to the United States 12 years ago and his father, a Palestinian who was living in Jordan, immigrated nine years ago.

The boy’s father, Oday El-Fayoume, told a press conference before the funeral that he was neither religious nor political but that he hoped his son’s death would promote understanding of what was happening in the Middle East.

The suspect, Joseph Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said.

A mugshot of a older Caucasian man with wispy grey hear and scabs on his face

Authorities say Joseph M. Czuba has been charged with a hate crime. He is accused of fatally stabbing a young boy and seriously wounding a woman because of their Islamic faith. Credit: AP

The US Justice Department is also opening a federal hate-crime investigation.

Czuba did not enter a plea during his initial appearance on Monday and has been held in custody.
Prosecutors alleged at the hearing that Czuba grew angry about the war and concerned about his Muslim tenants after listening to conservative talk radio, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The public defender representing Czuba was not available for comment.

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