Cold-blood murder of Muslim boy stems from ‘atmosphere of hate’ in US: CAIR

The brutal murder of a six-year-old Muslim boy in the United States stems from the atmosphere that fans the flames of hatred towards Muslims and Palestinians, says the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Police in southwestern Chicago charged 71-year-old Joseph M. Czuba with murder and hate crime for fatally stabbing Wadea al-Fayoume, and seriously wounding his 32-year-old mother on Sunday.

Czuba, the landlord, entered the apartment and – blind rage having taken hold of him – stabbed the little boy 26 times.

It was a military-style knife with an 18-centimeter serrated blade.

CAIR says he also tried to choke the mother, Hanaan Shahin, and proceeded to attack her as he was yelling, “You Muslims must die!”

Shahin managed to call 911 as she fought off the land, CAIR said. She remains in hospital in serious condition.

The boy was pronounced dead in hospital.

At a press conference on Sunday, the executive director of the Chicago chapter of CAIR, Ahmed Rehab, said while the blame lies on the murderer, it also lies on a hateful atmosphere that has been generated.

“What level of blind hatred can cause such an act?”

“I ask all people of conscience, to what extent have we created an atmosphere in which someone who may not have committed such an act this senseless, this meaningless.”

“To what extent was this person radicalized and brainwashed by this lopsided, one-sided atmosphere that fans the flames of hatred of Muslims and Palestinians?”

Rehab said Wadea had celebrated his birthday shortly before his death.

“He was a 6-year-old boy, he loved everything.”

“He has no clue about these larger issues happening in the world but he was made to pay for it.”

Wadea’s mother and father had moved to the United States years ago, and their son was born here, Rehab said. They were from a village in the occupied West Bank.

Iman Negrete, a Palestinian mother living in the same neighborhood, told Reuters Wadea was murdered because “he was Muslim.”

“And this is what they did, this is what this monster did.”

“You don't feel safe now. I’ve lived in Plainfield for over 20 years. You don’t feel safe, I don’t feel safe. Someone on Facebook, literally, is going after me right now, calling me a terrorist.”

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement it “strongly condemns the heinous act of racism and hatred.”

“The ministry also condemns the incitement campaigns, attacks, racist statements, and provocative positions that have been directed against Palestinian citizens and several Palestinian embassies and ambassadors in some countries.”

Irony at White House

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden of the United States has labeled the murder a “horrific act of hate.”

The White House dweller said in a statement late Sunday the “Palestinian Muslim family came to America seeking what we all seek — a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace.”

The president called for Americans to “come together and reject Islamaphobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred.”

The tragic murder of the Palestinian child coincides with Israel’s relentless bloody bombardment of the besieged Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli attacks were launched after Palestinian resistance fighters began Operation al-Aqsa Storm on October 7 in response to the occupying regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodshed and destruction against the Palestinians.

The regime has killed at least 2,800 Palestinians and injured some 10,000 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Biden, the US president who condemned the murder of Wadea, has said the United States stands with Israel.

POTUS also weighs a trip to Israel, according to the White House.

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