Joseph Czuba, 73, was convicted of first-degree murder and hate crimes for the fatal stabbing of 6-year-old Wadea Al Fayoumi and the attack on his mother, a Palestinian-American family targeted amid a climate of anti-Palestinian rhetoric and media bias.

JOLIET, Ill. — An Illinois man was found guilty Friday in the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and the wounding of his mother, an attack that prosecutors said was motivated by anti-Muslim hate, just days after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.

Prosecutors in suburban Chicago said the killing of Wadee Alfayoumi in 2023 was motivated by hatred of Muslims.

The boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, was fatally stabbed by 73-year-old Joseph Czuba, who stabbed the boy's mother Hanan Shaheen as well during the Oct. 14, 2023, attack in their Plainfield, Ill., home, the Will County Sheriff’s Office said at the time.

Joseph Czuba stabbed the child 26 times in October 2023, a week after the Israel-Gaza conflict began. A jury convicted him on murder, hate crimes and other charges.

A jury has convicted a 73-year-old man in the fatal stabbing of 6-year-old Wadee Al Fayoumi and the critical wounding of the boy’s mother.