Faith leaders, community activists and family members of victims are heading to Washington for a congressional hearing Tuesday to address the alarming rise in hate crimes in America, with a focus on tragic cases like that of Wadee Alfayoumi, the 6-year-old Palestinian boy who was stabbed to death in Plainfield.
On Monday morning, Maaria Mozaffar, legislative lead at Illinois Muslim Civic Coalition, was flying to Washington with Wadee’s 33-year-old mother, Hanaan Shahin.
“At the end of the day, she’s a mom who lost her baby,” Mozaffar told the Tribune while waiting at O’Hare International Airport.
Shahin was hospitalized after the Oct. 14 attack in which Joseph Czuba — the family’s landlord — allegedly stabbed her dozens of times and stabbed Wadee 26 times because they were Muslim and Palestinian, according to police.
Law enforcement and authorities from Will County said Czuba, then 71, targeted the family after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and Israel’s ensuing bombardment in Gaza. Czuba was charged with two counts of hate crimes in addition to first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.