Child killed in US hate crime to ‘repay’ Hamas

A 71-year-old Illinois man accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old boy and seriously wounding a 32-year-old woman was charged with a hate crime Sunday. Police allege he singled out the victims because of their Islamic faith and as a response to Hamas’s attack on Israel. Officers found the woman and boy late Saturday morning at a home in an unincorporated area of Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (65 km) southwest of Chicago, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on social media. The boy was pronounced dead at a hospital. The woman had multiple stab wounds and was expected to survive the statement. An autopsy on the child showed he had been stabbed dozens of times. “Both were targeted for being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and Israelis,” said the sheriff’s statement adding Joseph M Czuba of Plainfield was charged with first-degree murder and two counts of hate crimes. Authorities did not release the names of the two victims. President Joe Biden said: “This horrific act of hate has no place in America, and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe, and who we are.”