Palestinian-American Community Mourns Death Of Muslim Boy
The Palestinian community that lives just outside of Chicago remains in mourning a day after a funeral service was held for 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume.
Crowds gathered in Bridgeview — home to a large Palestinian community that has come to be known as “Little Palestine” — on Monday to say goodbye to the boy killed in what authorities have called a hate crime.
Al-Fayoume, who had recently celebrated a birthday, died after being stabbed dozens of times on Saturday in Plainfield Township, located southwest of Chicago, in an attack that drew condemnation from officials across the country, including President Joe Biden.
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“We are not animals — we are humans! We want people to see us as humans, to feel us as humans, to deal with us as humans because that’s what we are,” said Yousef Hannon, the boy’s uncle.
Joseph Czuba, 71, the family’s landlord, was upset over the Israel-Hamas war and attacked the boy’s mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, when she responded that he should “pray for peace” in the region, prosecutors said.
That’s when Czuba stabbed the boy 26 times, while his mother suffered multiple knife wounds. She was expected to make a full recovery.
Two days later, the boy’s white coffin — draped in a Palestinian flag — was carried into a mosque for his funeral. The community remains in mourning for the boy’s death and as the war rages on across the world in the Gaza Strip.
“This is a heavy day. It is a worst nightmare come true,” said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago Council on American-Islamic Relations office. “He was a lovely boy. Loved his family, friends. He loved soccer, basketball. He paid the price for the atmosphere of hate.”
The boy's mother came from the West Bank and moved to the United States 12 years ago. His father, Oday El-Fayoume, a Palestinian who was living in Jordan, immigrated nine years ago.
“It’s heartbreaking. He was Muslim, that’s what happened, he was Muslim and this is what they did, this is what this monster did,” Iman Negrete, a Palestinian American who lives in Plainfield, told Reuters.
Fueled by anti-Muslim hate
Czuba, who remains in custody, has been charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Joseph Czuba, 71, has been charged with killing 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume because the boy was Muslim. (Photo courtesy of the Will County Sheriff's Office)
Czuba is a practicing Catholic, according to the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois, and he and his wife are members of St. Mary Immaculate Parish in Plainfield. Pastor Pat Mulcahy told OSV News, “Our hearts are absolutely broken, and ache for the family and all those affected.”
In court documents, Shahin described Czuba as an angry man, saying she had tried to calm him down moments before the attack. Czuba, Shahin said, had ordered that the family vacate the property as a result of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians.
That’s when the war of words escalated and Czuba stabbed Shahin a dozen times before killing the boy.
“The entire community is grieving this situation,” Mulcahy said. “Plainfield is a multiethnic community, and we are all affected by this tragedy.”
In addition to the state charges, the FBI and U.S. Justice Department have also opened a federal hate-crime investigation.
“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 Will County Sheriff's Office said.
CAIR warned that there has been an increase in anti-Muslim hate over the past week in cities across the United States.
In a statement released by the White House, Biden called the murder a “horrific act of hate.”
“As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred,” he added. “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.”
Clemente Lisi is the executive editor at Religion Unplugged. He is the author of “The FIFA World Cup: A History of the Planet’s Biggest Sporting Event” and previously served as deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and a longtime reporter at The New York Post. Follow him on Twitter @ClementeLisi.