LANDLORD MOTIVATED BY ISRAELI-HAMAS WAR KILLS SIX-YEAR-OLD MUSLIM BOY AND STABS MOTHER IN US

Mon 16 October 2023:

On Sunday, a 71-year-old man from Illinois who has been accused of stabbing a 6-year-old kid to death and a 32-year-old woman with significant injuries was charged with hate crimes. According to police, he targeted the victims specifically due to their Islamic faith and in response to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

The sheriff’s office didn’t provide more corroboration, but it said that “despite the suspect not providing a statement to detectives, personnel were able to gather enough information through interviews and evidence” to charge him with two hate crimes.

Wadea Al-Fayoume.Courtesy Hela Yousef

“The child’s Palestinian Muslim family came to America seeking what we all seek—a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “This horrific act of hate has no place in America.”

He added, “We join everyone here at the White House in sending our condolences and prayers to the family, including for the mother’s recovery, and to the broader Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim American communities.”

In recent days, police in U.S. cities and federal authorities have been on high alert for violence driven by antisemitic or Islamophobic sentiments. FBI officials, along with Jewish and Muslim groups, have reported an increase of hateful and threatening rhetoric.

Oday Al-Fayoume, the father of Wadea Al-Fayoume, 6, is embraced by state Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid a news conference Sunday at the Muslim Community Center on Chicago’s Northwest Side.Jim Vondruska / AP

In the Chicago-area case, officers found the woman and boy late Saturday morning at a home in an unincorporated area of Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on social media.

The boy was pronounced dead at a hospital. The woman had multiple stab wounds and was expected to survive, according to the statement. An autopsy on the child showed he had been stabbed dozens of times.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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