Muslim boy killed as threats against Jews, Muslims increase after Hamas attack
An Illinois man was charged Sunday with a hate crime, accused of fatally stabbing a young boy and seriously wounding a woman because of their Islamic faith and the Israel-Hamas war, according to The Associated Press.
Officers found the 32-year-old woman and 6-year-old boy late Saturday morning at a home in an unincorporated area of Plainfield Township, southwest of Chicago, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said.
The statement added that the boy was pronounced dead at a hospital and the woman had multiple stab wounds and was expected to survive. An autopsy on the child showed he had also been stabbed multiple times, according to reports.
“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 sheriff’s statement said.
The suspect, Joseph Czuba, has been charged him with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crimes and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations identified the boy and woman and said they were Palestinian American. The group said text messages exchanged among family members showed the attacker had made disparaging remarks about Muslims.
The Muslim civil liberties organization called the crime “our worst nightmare,” and part of a disturbing spike in hate calls and emails since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
Jewish and Muslim people and institutions have received an increasing number of threats in the days since Hamas attacked Israel, FBI director Christopher Wray told reporters Sunday.
“The threat is very much ongoing and in fact, the threat picture continues to evolve,” Wray said, according to CBS. “Here in the U.S., we cannot and do not discount the possibility that Hamas or other foreign terrorist organizations could exploit the conflict to call on their supporters to conduct attacks on our own soil.”
He said the bureau is “moving quickly to mitigate” the threats.
On Saturday, Wray told police chiefs and first responders to be vigilant for attacks by extremists in local communities.
Senior FBI officials said most of the threats are not credible, and some have been addressed. Officials told reporters that there have been threats against Muslim facilities as well as Jewish facilities. Threats against Muslim centers are up, although the level of antisemitic threats is also spiking.
Birmingham’s Jewish Federation is promoting a Tuesday Oct. 17 virtual event with national experts about how to speak to children about events in Israel.