Defendants in Hate Crime Murders Plead Not Guilty

Joseph Czuba, a 71-year-old man, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder, and a hate crime in the attack on a Muslim mother and her son. Czuba is accused of killing 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and injuring his mother, Hanaan Shahin, in an attack motivated by the Israel-Hamas conflict. The boy was stabbed 26 times, while the mother was stabbed a dozen times. Czuba, who was Shahin's landlord, allegedly attacked them after she told him to "pray for peace." The incident has prompted a hate crime investigation, and there has been a significant increase in Islamophobic incidents since the conflict began.