Biden marks one-year anniversary of Wadea Al-Fayoume’s murder
WASHINGTON (AA) – President Joe Biden marked on Monday one-year anniversary of what he called a “heinous” fatal assault on a Palestinian-American mother and son that left the 6-year-old dead.
Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden “continue to think” about Wadea Al-Fayoume, 6, and his mother, Hanaan Shahin, saying they are “grateful for Hanan’s recovery and her powerful voice for peace.”
He hailed Wadea as “a bright and cheerful American-Muslim boy of Palestinian descent.”
“We know the hole in their heart that remains without their beloved son. Days like this are hard because it brings it all back. We keep them in our hearts,” the president, who lost his son to brain cancer in 2015, said in a statement.
“On this day, let us all take steps that honor Wadee’s memory and reaffirm together that there is no place for hate in America, including hatred of Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims. We can all reject hatred and expose misinformation and disinformation that is cynically aimed at turning us against one another,” he added.
He was using an alternative spelling to refer to the murdered child.
Al-Fayoume was fatally stabbed 26 times at his Plainfield, Illinois, apartment with his mother, Hanaan Shahin, on Oct. 14, 2023. Shahin was critically injured after being stabbed more than a dozen times.
Authorities arrested the family’s landlord, Joseph Czuba, and charged him with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery and a pair of hate crimes charges. Czuba has pleaded not guilty.
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