Is Czuba a Jewish Name? Why Did Joseph Czuba Stab a 6-Year-Old? Illinois Hate Crime Explained

The smallest graves are the heaviest, and the two nations at war must bear the weight of the guilt and penance. 

The conflict between Israel and Hamas has claimed over 700 Palestinian children and an unaccounted number of Israeli children as of October 14, 2023, a week after the “state of war” was declared. Starting from a geopolitical conflict, the war has infested people’s minds with utmost hate for each other.

A physical battle is confined to the boundaries, but a mental war has the worst consequences worldwide.

When the former Hamas leader, Khaled Mashal, called for a global Jihad, he was playing with the minds of millions of Muslims. Israel’s shutdown of Al Jazeera’s local bureau raises questions of media censorship.

And now, we are at a point of a global bisection, where people taking either side are indirectly part of the war. The recent hate crime is a testament to the ramifications of war and how our toxic opinions are harboring a much worse side of humanity.

On October 14, 2023, Joseph Czuba was arrested for stabbing a 6-year-old boy 26 times and his 32-year-old mother. Czuba reportedly committed the crime because of contempt for Muslims in the context of the ongoing Israel-Palestine war. Some reports suggest that Czuba is Jewish, considering the descent of his name. However, these claims were debunked when some sources revealed that the 71-year-old man was Polish-American.

Why Did Joseph Czuba Stab a 6-Year-Old? Illinois Hate Crime Explained

The 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume just celebrated his birthday, excited his parents threw him a stellar party. The apple of his parent’s eye, Wadea loved soccer and basketball and spread joy to whomever he met. The small family built their own little world in Plainfield, Illinois, living in a rented property.

Their landowner, Joseph Czuba, was seen outside their house on October 14, 2023, on a Saturday. But no one in the neighborhood would have ever imagined what happened within a few moments. The neighbors quickly informed the authorities. When the police arrived, Czuba was seen on the pavement of their house. But the horrifying images inside the house send shockwaves throughout the nation.

According to the preliminary investigation, the 71-year-old landlord attacked the 32-year-old woman with a military-style knife with a seven-inch blade. She somehow managed to escape and lock herself in the bathroom to call the police.

But the nightmare had just begun, as they found the body of a little boy who was stabbed almost 26 times. The kid was taken to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds and heavy bleeding and was pronounced dead.

The sheriff’s office released a statement–

“Joseph Czuba did not make any statements to detectives regarding his involvement in this heinous attack. Despite the suspect not providing a statement to detectives, personnel were able to gather enough information through interviews and evidence to formally charge Joseph Czuba with numerous criminal offenses.”

Council on American–Islamic Relations CAIR International, the largest Muslim civil rights organization, issued a statement on social media–

“We are shocked and disturbed to learn that a landlord in Chicago expressing anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian views broke into a Muslim family’s apartment and attacked them with a knife, injuring the mother and killing her 6-year-old son, Wadea Al-Fayoume.”

Is Czuba a Jewish Name? 

“You Muslims must die!”

These words shall haunt the aftermath of the Israel-Palestine war for centuries. When Czuba uttered these words to a little boy, that’s when both sides of the war lost. Some netizens drew conclusions that Czuba is a Jewish name and that the zionist landlord targeted the family because of Islamophobia.

There’s no denying that this is a hate crime, but it seems that Joseph M Czuba is not Jewish after all. According to a few reports, the name is of Polish descent.

Some records also suggest that he is indeed a Polish-American and is Caucasian.

Regardless of his ethnicity, Czuba has committed an unthinkable crime and is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and two counts of committing a hate crime. 

The Illinois congressman Abdelnasser Rashid commented on the gruesome murders based on religion, stating–

“We need to understand that the killing of this six-year-old boy was directly connected to what’s happening in Israel and Palestine. If we want to see these attacks stop and see any semblance of justice, we have to call out not just this heinous crime but call for a ceasefire and de-escalation and forge a path forward for peace in Israel and Palestine based on humanity and based on human rights.” 

What is your take on the murders? Do you think the online discourse is propagating the war further? Are we harboring hate more than finding a resolution for the war?

Let us know in the comments section below.