Nearly two years after the fatal hate crime stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy, Illinois elected officials are honoring what would have been his eighth birthday by pushing for improved safety of immigrant and refugee children.
Wadee Alfayoumi died in October 2023 after he was stabbed 26 times by his landlord, Joseph Czuba, who prosecutors said had been radicalized by conservative commentary and targeted Wadee and his mother because they were Muslim. The crime came shortly after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel, which sparked Israeli raids and attacks that have killed nearly 70,000 Palestinians in the two years since.
Wadee would have turned 8 on Monday. Illinois elected officials, including U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and Reps. Delia Ramirez and Lauren Underwood are calling attention to Wadee’s life and the circumstances of his death.
“Today, we join the family, loved ones, and the world in honoring the life of Wadee Alfayoumi — a joyful child whose life was cut short by hate and bigotry,” the elected officials wrote in a joint statement. “Wadee, and all children of refugees and immigrants in our nation, deserved to live in a country that honors its promise of safety and opportunity for the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
Wadee’s tragic death is an example of what can happen when hateful rhetoric is allowed to spread unchecked, and children can often bear the brunt of xenophobia and racism, the elected officials said in the statement. The treatment of immigrants and immigrant children has been in the spotlight in the Chicago area recently, as President Donald Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” continues to carry out aggressive raids, including some where children are detained.
“From Gaza to Chicago, dehumanizing rhetoric towards immigrants and refugees and Palestinian, Muslim, and Jewish communities continues to reject our shared humanity and threaten our shared safety,” the statement reads.
The group of elected officials announced they would reintroduce the Wadee Resolution, which condemns hate crimes and asserts that “no one should be a target of hate because of their ethnicity or religion” and “it is the duty of elected officials and media to tell the truth without dehumanizing rhetoric when informing the public of factual information.”
The Muslim Civic Coalition has also launched a website, Wadee.org, to spread Wadee’s story and support the resolution.