<\/p>\n
A funeral and burial for a 6-year-old Muslim boy will take place on Monday in a Chicago suburb after he was stabbed to death over the weekend by a man who police say targeted him and his mother because they were Palestinian Americans.<\/p>\n
Services for the boy, identified as Wadea Al-Fayoume, are scheduled for 1:00 pm (1800 GMT) at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, Illinois, southwest of Chicago, according to a statement from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a heavy day that we hoped would never come. As they say, the smallest coffins are the heaviest,\u201d said Ahmed Rehab, CAIR-Chicago executive director, said in the statement.<\/p>\n
The funeral will be held in a community known as \u201cLittle Palestine\u201d for its heavy concentration of Palestinian Americans.<\/p>\n
The killing comes against the backdrop of a fresh crisis in the Middle East<\/a> after a surprise Hamas attack on Israeli civilians a week ago and subsequent retaliation by Israel in the blockaded Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n The conflict has put Jewish and Palestinian Muslim communities in the United States on edge and fearful of a potential backlash against them.<\/p>\n Police said the 6-year-old and his mother \u2014 identified as 32-year-old Hanaan Shahin \u2014 were attacked by their landlord on Saturday in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago. The boy was stabbed 26 times while his mother suffered multiple wounds. She was expected to survive.<\/p>\n Iman Negrete, a Palestinian American who lives in Plainfield, is from the same town in the occupied Palestinian territories as the mother. She wept as she stood next to a makeshift memorial made up of stuffed animals, saying she does not feel safe in the community because of her background.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking,\u201d she said, referring to the boy\u2019s death. \u201cHe was Muslim, that\u2019s what happened, he was Muslim and this is what they did, this is what this monster did.\u201d<\/p>\n The boy celebrated his sixth birthday just weeks ago, CAIR\u2019s Rehab told a press conference on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a lovely boy. Loved his family, and friends. He loved soccer, and basketball,\u201d he said. \u201cHe paid the price for the atmosphere of hate.\u201d<\/p>\n The boy\u2019s mother came from the West Bank to the United States 12 years ago and his father immigrated nine years ago, Rehab said.<\/p>\n The suspect, Joseph Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the Will County Sheriff\u2019s Office said.<\/p>\n Before the stabbings, there were no known issues or conflicts between Czuba and the family, CAIR said.<\/p>\n The boy\u2019s father, Oday El-Fayoume, told The Daily Beast<\/em> that Czuba had a \u201cgood relationship\u201d with the boy\u2019s mother and son, having built a tree house for the small child outside the home they rented from him.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is an angel. Basically a small angel in the form of a person,\u201d El-Fayoume said of his son. \u201cIt is hard to picture this man holding a knife about to stab my son.\u201d<\/p>\n The boy\u2019s father received text messages from the child\u2019s mother while she was hospitalized, describing the attack and identifying the assailant, Rehab said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe asked his wife \u2026 what happened,\u201d Rehab said. \u201cHe knocked on the door and attempted to choke her and said, \u2018You Muslims must die\u2019 and stabbed her.\u201d<\/p>\n Attorney General Merrick Garland late on Sunday said the US Justice Department would open a federal hate-crime investigation into the attack.<\/p>\n \u201cThis incident cannot help but further raise the fears of Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian communities in our country with regard to hate-fueled violence,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n Reuters<\/em> could not identify an attorney for Czuba. He was in the Will County jail awaiting his initial court appearance, the sheriff\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n US President Joe Biden said the boy\u2019s family were Palestinian Muslims who \u201ccame to America seeking what we all seek \u2014 a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis horrific act of hate has no place in America,\u201d Biden said in a statement.<\/p>\n Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar called the crime \u201cunspeakable\u201d and said she prayed \u201clove can prevail in these times of so much hate\u201d.<\/p>\n FBI Director Christopher Wray warned the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference to stay vigilant \u201cin this heightened environment.\u201d<\/p>\nSuspect charged<\/h2>\n