Joseph Czuba, a 73-year-old man, has been found guilty of murder and hate crime charges for the October 2023 stabbing death of a six-year-old Palestinian American boy named Wadee Alfayoumi. The murder occurred just days after the start of Israel’s war on Gaza and is considered one of the worst hate crime incidents in the United States since that time.
Czuba, who was the victim’s landlord, stabbed Wadee 26 times with a military-style knife with a 7-inch (18-cm) serrated blade, causing the boy’s mother, Hanan Shaheen, to suffer multiple stab wounds as well. Shaheen testified during the trial that Czuba told her, “You, as a Muslim, must die.”
The case has had significant emotional impact on the Chicago area’s large and established Palestinian community, as many Muslim parents feel that their own children were targeted through this act of violence. The verdict has been hailed as a measure of justice for Wadee’s family and serves as a reminder that hate-fueled violence will not be tolerated in the US.
Additionally, other incidents involving anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment in the US have raised concerns, including the attempted drowning of a three-year-old Palestinian American girl in Texas, the stabbing of a Palestinian American man in Texas, the beating of a Muslim man in New York, a violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters in California, and a Florida shooting of two Israeli visitors whom the suspect mistakenly thought were Palestinians.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/1/us-man-convicted-in-hate-crime-murder-of-palestinian-american-boy?traffic_source=rss
