Joseph Czuba, 73, was convicted of first-degree murder and hate crimes for the fatal stabbing of 6-year-old Wadea Al Fayoumi and the attack on his mother, a Palestinian-American family targeted amid a climate of anti-Palestinian rhetoric and media bias.

JOLIET, Ill. — An Illinois man was found guilty Friday in the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and the wounding of his mother, an attack that prosecutors said was motivated by anti-Muslim hate, just days after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.

Prosecutors in suburban Chicago said the killing of Wadee Alfayoumi in 2023 was motivated by hatred of Muslims.

Joseph Czuba stabbed the child 26 times in October 2023, a week after the Israel-Gaza conflict began. A jury convicted him on murder, hate crimes and other charges.

A jury has convicted a 73-year-old man in the fatal stabbing of 6-year-old Wadee Al Fayoumi and the critical wounding of the boy’s mother.

Joseph Czuba stabbed Wadea Al-Fayoume 26 times as the child screamed 'oh no, stop' during the 2023 attack An Illinois man has been convicted of murder and a hate crime for killing his 6-year-old Palestinian American tenant in 2023,

A jury found an Illinois landlord guilty of murder and hate crime charges Friday for a brutal 2023 attack on a Palestinian American family that killed a 6-year-old. Joseph Czuba, 73, was charged in the fatal stabbing of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother,

A jury on Friday found Plainfield landlord Joseph Czuba guilty of murder and hate crime charges in a stabbing attack that killed a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and seriously wounded his mother.