Biden: We will transfer more forces to the Middle East. Anyone considering taking advantage of the situation - don't do it/Reuters
A 71-year-old man in the United States has been charged with murder and a hate crime after stabbing to death a six-year-old Muslim boy of Palestinian origin and wounding his mother, Illinois authorities announced Monday, noting that the attacker, Joseph Choba, did so because of the war between Israel and Hamas.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was "appalled" by the attack. "This horrific act of hatred has no place in America and goes against our fundamental values: freedom from fear of who we pray for, what we believe in, and who we are," Biden said in a statement. "As Americans, we must unite and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred," added the president, who has sided with Israel since the beginning of the war and has been criticized by some on the American left.
According to a statement from the Will County Sheriff's Office, the assault occurred Saturday morning in the city of Plainfield, when a woman called emergency services to say her landlord was attacking her. She said she "ran to the shower and continued to fight her attacker."
When officers arrived, they found the woman and child with "multiple stab wounds to the chest, torso, and upper extremities." The two were taken to hospital, but the boy later died. He was stabbed 26 times. "The knife used in this attack is a serrated military-style knife 31cm in diameter with a 17cm blade," the sheriff's office said. The boy's mother, who was seriously injured, is expected to survive the attack.
"Paid the price for the atmosphere of hatred." Victim of attack, Wadi' al-Fayoum/Reuters
Chobe was found "sitting upright outside on the ground near the residence's driveway," according to the statement. He was taken to the hospital for treatment before being questioned by detectives. "Investigators were able to determine that the two victims of this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect because they are Muslims and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East involving Hamas and Israelis," the sheriff's office added.
Authorities did not release the names of the victims, but in a later press briefing, the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an American human rights group, said the boy's name was Wadi' al-Fayoum and that of his mother, Hanan Shahin. While the boy was born in the United States, his mother, originally from Bitunya in the West Bank, arrived in the country 12 years ago.
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"The suspect was targeted because they were Muslims." Chobe/official website, Will County Sheriff's Bureau
The group's executive director, Ahmed Rab, said Wadi' celebrated his birthday just a few weeks ago. "He loved his family, his friends. "He loved football, he loved basketball," Peretz said, "and he paid the price for the atmosphere of hatred and alienation and dehumanization that frankly I think we're seeing here in the United States as a result of the irresponsible leadership, the one-sided statements and the coverage that we see in the media and among elected officials.
"We warned that we must not repeat the same mistake we had after 9/11," Raab said, adding that at the time innocent members of the community were blamed for the deadly attacks in the United States in 2001.
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