The mother of the Palestinian American 6-year-old stabbed to death in an apparent hate crime following the onset of the Israel-Hamas war earlier this month made a desperate plea for peace in her first public comments.
Hanaan Shahin, 32, remembered her boy as an angel and begged for world peace on Wednesday while speaking for the first time since little Wadea Al-Fayoume was killed on Oct. 14.
“I need justice,” Shahin told ABC News. “How can you live without justice? And how you will be in peace without justice?”
The grieving mother, who was also stabbed over a dozen times in the horrifying attack carried out by landlord Joseph Czuba, retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump.
“Pray for peace,” Shahin said. “We need many, many prayers for peace. You know, and then God will give us peace. We need to pray for peace.”
Czuba, 71 — who allegedly shouted, “You Muslims must die!” at Shanin and her son before stabbing the boy 26 times with a 12-inch military-style knife — carried out the attack because the family was Muslim, authorities in Will County said.
Hanaan Shahin called for peace in her first public comments since her 6-year-old son Wadea Al-Fayoume was stabbed to death in an apparent hate crime. Facebook / Hanan A Shaheen
Wadea was allegedly stabbed to death by landlord Joseph Czuba. CAIR/Handout via REUTERS
Czuba allegedly shouted “You Muslims must die!” before the attack. Will County Sheriff/Handout via REUTERS “Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The Department of Justice has also opened a federal investigation into Al-Fayoume’s death.
The mother and son had lived on the ground floor of Czuba’s home for about two years, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Chicago chapter, which condemned the violence.
Shahin was stabbed over a dozen times in the attack. Facebook / Hanan A Shaheen
The mother called for justice to be served and for people to pray for peace following the murder. Family HandoutCAIR-Chicago described the stabbings as the Muslim community’s “worst nightmare,” calling it part of a disturbing spike in hate crimes targeting them after Hamas’ attack on Israel and the Jewish state’s subsequent declaration of war.
The group said the landlord “had been angry with what he was seeing in the news” and launched his attack on the mother and son, both of whom he previously had a “good relationship” with, according to the boy’s father.
Czuba was taken into custody at the scene and transported to a hospital to treat the cut on his forehead, police said.
Mourners carrying Wadea’s coffin after a funeral service in Bridgeview, Illinois on October 16, 2023. Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty Images
People placing flowers on Wadea’s grave in LaGrange, Illinois. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
Mourners attending a vigil for Wadea at the Prairie Activity & Recreation Center in Plainfield on October 17, 2023. REUTERS/Jim VondruskaHe was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crimes and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Czuba is currently being held at Will County’s Adult Detention facility.
