American-Muslim community in 'pain and anger' after killing of Palestinian-American boy: CAIR

By Islam Dogru

NEW YORK (AA) - The American-Muslim community is in "a lot of pain and anger" after the tragic murder of 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy Wadea Al-Fayoume, who was brutally stabbed to death in Illinois this weekend, said a CAIR representative on Monday.

Ahmed Rehab, head of the Chicago office for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told Anadolu that the funeral of the 6-year-old is expected to be "one of the biggest funerals" because "there's a lot of pain and anger in the community".

According to Rehab, the anger is "not only because of losing this wonderful, angel child, but the conditions that created this".

"You know, we feel there's been a fanning of the flames of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian sentiment to the degree that someone, a weak-minded person, could have been radicalized into attacking their own neighbors and killing them in this vicious fashion," he said.

Noting the child's mother is still in “serious condition,” he said: "And my heart goes out to the mother, most of all, because she was the one who witnessed the crime and saw her son in this condition. So she must have mental trauma, in addition to her own serious injuries".

Rehab said the CAIR is sending letters to schools to ask them to be proactive against anti-Muslim sentiments and it is also working with officials to make sure mosques are safe.

He also criticized the US administration's "one-sided" statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying that those statements "dehumanized" Palestinians, and "helped create this atmosphere of anti-Muslim sentiment and anti-Palestinian sentiment".

He also accused the US media of its "one-sided" and "very imbalanced" coverage.

"It's amounted to almost fanning the flames of hatred and animosity towards human beings," he said.

The assailant, Joseph Czuba, who is the victims' landlord, carried out the attack on Saturday, and the Will County Sheriff’s Office said that based on a forensic pathologist’s examination, the boy was stabbed 26 times throughout his body.

Czuba was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and two counts of a hate crime.

The US Justice Department has launched a federal hate crime investigation into the tragic murder of the 6-year-old.

US President Joe Biden on Sunday denounced the murder of a Palestinian-American boy who was brutally stabbed to death by a 71-year-old man in the US state of Illinois.

"(First lady) 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," said Biden in a statement.

"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," he said.

Asked about Biden's statement, Rehab said he appreciated the statement, but added that Biden's other statements that were issued so far "have dehumanized people".

"It's easy to condemn something like this. I don't think anybody can ever defend it. But what we needed from him was real leadership in that creating conditions that allow for things like this to have said the right thing rather than the easy thing when it comes to Gaza and Palestinian lives," he said.