| Muslim civil rights group laments ‘atmosphere of de-humanization’ created by one-sided political statements & media reporting |
| (CHICAGO, IL, 10/15/2023) – The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today decried the reported stabbing death of a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy and the stabbing of his mother as “our worst nightmare.” [NOTE: The family says the child was six-years-old.] SEE: 6-year-old boy killed, woman critically injured in Plainfield stabbing: Will County Sheriff’s Office [MEDIA ADVISORY: CAIR-Chicago is holding a press conference with the father of the deceased boy today at 3:30 to discuss the incident, details below: WHAT: Press Conference Discussing Murder of Palestinian-American boy and stabbing of mother WHEN: Today, Sunday October 15, 2023, at 3:30 PM CT WHERE: MCC (Muslim Community Center), 4380 N Elston Ave. Chicago IL 60641 WHO: CAIR-Chicago Executive Director, Ahmed Rehab, and Oday Al-Fayoume, father of the deceased boy.] CONTACT: Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of CAIR-Chicago, 202 870 0166, arehab@cair.com; Erin P.R. Davis, MCM, Communications Coordinator of CAIR-Chicago, 773-802-8786, epdavis@cair.com CAIR-Chicago is expressing full confidence that local authorities would investigate and prosecute this attack as a hate crime. CAIR-Chicago is again calling on officials and broadcasters to reconsider fanning an atmosphere of hate and de-humanization, not seen since the aftermath of 9/11 which puts communities at certain risk. SEE: CAIR-Chicago Reports Spike in Hate Messages, Community Concerns Received After Outbreak of Mideast Violence, Laments “Atmosphere of De-Humanization” Created by One-Sided Political Statements & Media Reporting The mother, Hanaan Shahin, and her son Wadea Al-Fayoume had lived on the ground floor of the house for two years with no previous notable issues with the landlord, reported as 71-year-old Joseph Czuba. According to written text messages reportedly sent to the father of the boy by the mother from the hospital and shared with CAIR-Chicago, the landlord who had been angry with what he was seeing in the news knocked on their door, and when she opened, he tried to choke her and proceeded to attack her with a knife, yelling “you Muslims must die!” When she ran into the bathroom to call 911, she came out to find that he had stabbed her six-year-old son to death. (Previous media stories erroneously reported that he is eight). “It all happened in seconds,” she texted. “Our hearts are heavy, and our prayers are with the darling boy and his mother,” said Ahmed Rehab, CAIR-Chicago Executive Director. “As we await the official investigation of the local authorities, what we can confirm at the moment is that we have a murdered child in his own home, a six-year who had just celebrated his birthday a couple of weeks ago, and a mother lying in the hospital in serious condition, both stabbed over a dozen times. And we have testimony from the mother as to the harrowing moments that unfolded in terms of what was done and said – and it is our worst nightmare. “We have full confidence in the authorities to investigate this heinous incident as a hate crime and to do so swiftly.” CAIR-Chicago said the suspect was in custody. “In a press release issued October 11th, Rehab warned: “[One-sided] statements issued by public officials and one-sided reporting by the media has [helped] create [a] lop-sided atmosphere in which members of our community are essentially sitting ducks. This is doubly concerning because we had come to believe that we had learned the hard lessons from the darkest days of flippant Islamophobia in the years after 9/11 where the lack of balanced leadership of our elected leaders, and the irresponsible and biased reporting by the media directly contributed to hanging our communities out to dry.” CAIR-Chicago is renewing its call for responsible leadership and balanced media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East. “This unthinkable senseless crime did not happen in a vacuum,” Rehab warned again. CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims. BACKGROUNDER ON ANTI-PALESTINIAN, ISLAMOPHOBIC INCIDENTS: CAIR’s Philadelphia office recently urged state and federal law enforcement agencies to charge a white male with hate crimes and ethnic intimidation for an allegedly racially-motivated brandishing of a pistol against Muslims protesting Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza at the footsteps of the Pennsylvania State Capitol. CAIR-Texas called for the arrest of several men seen harassing students at the University of Texas during a Palestine Solidarity Committee meeting on the recent violence and deaths in the Gaza Strip. CAIR-San Diego responded to hate vandalism targeting a mosque. CAIR-Missouri condemned a X (formerly Twitter) post by a professor at Washington University in St. Louis allegedly calling for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and claiming they are not “humans.” CAIR’s Michigan chapter applauded the swift arrest of a Michigan resident who was allegedly making credible threats against Palestinians in Dearborn and calls on prosecutors to charge Farmington Hills resident with a hate crime under Michigan’s current Ethnic Intimidation Law. CAIR’s Cleveland chapter called for a hate crime investigation after an individual reportedly breached security protocols to gain unauthorized access to its office in an apparent attempt to disrupt the private event held by the civil rights organization. CAIR’s Philadelphia office called on ParetoHealth to clarify its position after one of its employees allegedly created a public document in Google Sheets targeting Harvard University students supporting Palestinian human rights. CAIR-NY condemned NYC Councilwoman Inna Vernikov for allegedly bringing and displaying a gun at a pro-Palestine protest and called for her immediate removal from office, and condemned alleged anti-Palestinian attacks in Brooklyn and called on public officials and the media to end anti-Palestinian incitement. CAIR’s Masschusetts chapter called on law enforcement authorities to investigate vandalism targeting a sign for Palestinian and Islamic organizations in Boston as a possible hate crime. CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims. END CONTACT: Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of CAIR-Chicago, 202 870 0166, arehab@cair.com; Erin P.R. Davis, MCM, Communications Coordinator of CAIR-Chicago, 773-802-8786, epdavis@cair.com |