ILLINOIS LANDLORD GETS 53 YEARS IN PRISON FOR KILLING 6-YEAR OLD PALESTINIAN AMERICAN CHILD

In a case that highlighted rising tensions following the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza conflict, a 73-year-old Illinois man has been sentenced to over five decades in prison for the brutal killing of a Palestinian American child and attempted murder of the boy's mother.

Joseph Czuba received a 53-year sentence on Friday after being convicted of stabbing 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi to death and severely wounding his mother, Hanan Shaheen, in what prosecutors described as an anti-Muslim hate crime that occurred in October 2023.

The attack, which took place in Plainfield Township about 40 miles southwest of Chicago, was one of the earliest and most severe hate crimes in the United States following the escalation of violence in the Middle East after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

According to authorities, Czuba, who was Shaheen's landlord, used a military-style knife with a 7-inch serrated blade to stab the young boy 26 times. The mother suffered multiple stab wounds but survived the attack.

Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak handed down the sentence, which includes 30 years for murder, 20 years for attempted murder, and an additional 3 years for the hate crime conviction.

The case has drawn attention from civil rights advocates who have noted a troubling rise in Islamophobia, anti-Arab sentiment, and antisemitism across the country since the Middle East conflict intensified.

This sentencing comes amid ongoing concerns about hate-motivated violence targeting various communities in the United States, as tensions related to international conflicts continue to reverberate domestically.