(NewsNation) — Mourners in Illinois grieved at a funeral for the 6-year-old Palestinian American boy authorities say was fatally stabbed by a man who targeted him and his mother for their Muslim faith.
A funeral was held Monday for the boy identified as Wadea Al-Fayoume by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. His mother, who had been stabbed over a dozen times, was unable to make it to the funeral as she was still in the hospital. Both were found by authorities Saturday morning in their home in unincorporated Plainfield Township.
Large crowds gathered at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, Illinois, a community southwest of Chicago, to remember Al-Fayoume, whose uncle called him a “very kind kid” during a press conference Monday before the service.
During Monday’s press conference, women and children huddled and cried in the mosque’s basement while dozens of people flanked the speakers, including two men waving Palestinian flags.
Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said at a different news conference Sunday that Al-Fayoume was a lovely boy who loved his family and friends as well as soccer and basketball.
“He paid the price for the atmosphere of hate,” Rehab said.
The boy’s mother had come from the West Bank to the United States 12 years ago, and his father immigrated nine years ago, according to Rehab.
“We live in a country called USA. We’re not in war,” Al-Fayoume’s uncle said Monday. “We’re not bringing war here too — we need to save our kids. I’m not just saying (this) about Palestinians — I’m saying (this) about all our kids.”
Rehab said Sunday he ultimately blames the person responsible for the killing but also asks leaders and media: “To what extent was this person radicalized and brainwashed by this lopsided, one-sided atmosphere that has fanned the flames of hatred against Muslims and Palestinians?”
Police have made it clear that they believe Joseph Czuba, 71, the man accused of killing Al-Fayoume, targeted the boy and his mother because they were Muslims. Czuba, who was denied bail in court Monday, is facing first-degree murder, hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon charges.
During the attack, Czuba reportedly said, “You Muslims must die,” according to text messages sent to the boy’s father by the mother while she was still in the hospital that were shown to CAIR. CAIR says Czuba had been angry with what he saw on the news about the Israel-Hamas war.
The Muslim civil liberties organization said the boy’s horrible death comes at the end of a week of “bigotry, dehumanization, hysteria and propaganda aimed at Muslims and Palestinians.”
“We ask Allah to enter Wadea into paradise, comfort his grieving family and grant them justice,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations said on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
Reuters and NewsNation digital producer Cassie Buchman contributed to this story.