By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A person from Illinois was sentenced on Friday to 53 years in jail after a jury convicted him of the homicide of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and the extreme wounding of his mom in an October 2023 hate crime stabbing, The Chicago Solar-Occasions reported.
Joseph Czuba, 73, stabbed and killed Wadee Alfayoumi and knifed Hanan Shaheen days after U.S. ally Israel started its conflict on Gaza following Palestinian Hamas militants’ October 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel.
Prosecutors mentioned the stabbing – one of many earliest and worst hate crime incidents within the U.S. because the begin of the conflict – was sparked by anti-Muslim hatred. U.S. rights advocates have famous rising Islamophobia, anti-Arab hate and antisemitism.
Czuba, who was the owner for Shaheen and her son, stabbed the boy 26 instances with a military-style knife with a 7-inch (18-cm) serrated blade, authorities mentioned. Shaheen suffered a number of stab wounds within the assault that occurred in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago.
Czuba was discovered responsible in late February. Shaheen testified throughout the trial that Czuba advised her “you, as a Muslim, should die.”
Different latest incidents elevating alarm within the U.S. about anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian prejudice embody the tried drowning of a 3-year-old Palestinian American lady and the stabbing of a Palestinian American man, each in Texas.
Incidents elevating alarm over antisemitism and anti-Israel attitudes embody an unsuccessful plot to assault a New York Jewish middle and an arson assault on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence.
Hate incidents have additionally been reported throughout protests and counter-protests associated to the conflict.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Enhancing by Kate Mayberry)
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