Month: October 2023

A 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy was killed in his Illinois home by his landlord, who has been charged with murder and hate crimes after allegedly stabbing the boy to death because he was Muslim. The boy’s mother was also critically wounded the anti-Muslim hate crime, with police calling it a “senseless and cowardly act of violence.” The brutal killing comes amid heightened tensions in the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East and at a time when Muslim and Arab communities in the U.S. are warning against hate toward their people stateside.

The boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, was stabbed 26 times at his Plainfield home by Joseph Czuba, 71, Saturday, investigators said. He died at the hospital. His mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, was stabbed more than a dozen times; she is at a hospital and is expected to survive. When officers arrived at the scene, about 40 miles (64km) south-west of Chicago, they found Czuba sat on the ground outside the property with a cut to his face. He was taken to hospital for treatment before being questioned by detectives, and later charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, hate crimes and aggravated battery. The Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release: “Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.”

A funeral service and burial was held on Monday afternoon at the Mosque Foundation in the town of Bridgeview, Illinois which is sometimes referred to as “Little Palestine” because of its large Palestinian-American population. At the end of the funeral, a small white casket, which at one point was covered in the Palestinian flag, was carried away.

Thousands of Americans boarded a Royal Caribbean cruise ship on Monday in an attempt to aid in the evacuation of Israel, would take then take them to neighboring Cyprus. In Cyprus, American evacuees will be able to board commercial flights to take them the rest of the way home. The race to evacuate comes after Israeli military said they are preparing for an all-out ground assault on Gaza in retaliation for last week’s deadly attacks by Hamas that killed at least 1,400 people, including at least 29 Americans.

The US Embassy in Israel announced the evacuation plan, offering the 2,500 Americans and their immediate family members in Israel the opportunity to leave by sea. The cruise ship line Royal Caribbean offered aid in helping with evacuation efforts, after commercial airlines mostly stopped flying into Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport.

Amid the escalating hostilities in the region, thousands of Americans, including infants and young children, headed to the port city of Haifa hoping to board the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas. The passage from Haifa to Limassol Port in Cyprus was expected to take between 10 and 12 hours, with food and internet service available to passengers on board. According to embassy officials, boarding got underway at 8 a.m. local time and was available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The State Department also said that in addition to the ship, chartered flights from Israel will be available for American citizens through Tuesday.

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Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry has won the Louisiana governor’s race, in a major victory for the GOP as they reclaim the governor’s mansion for the first time in eight years. Landry succeeds current Gov. John Bel Edwards, who was unable to seek reelection due to consecutive term limits. Landry, 52, garnered more than half of the votes and avoided an expected runoff under the state’s “jungle primary” system. The last time there wasn’t a gubernatorial runoff in Louisiana was in 2011 and 2007, when Bobby Jindal, a Republican, won the state’s top position.

Landry — who was backed by former President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep Steve Scalise — said during his victory speech: “Today’s election says that our state is united. It’s a wake up call and it’s a message that everyone should hear loud and clear, that we the people in this state are going to expect more out of our government from here on out.”. The governor-elect celebrated with supporters during a watch party in Broussard, Louisiana, and described the election as “historic.”

Landry has used his office to champion conservative policy positions, and repeatedly clashed with Edwards over matters in the state, including LGBTQ rights, state finances and the death penalty. He spent two years on Capitol Hill, beginning in 2011, where he represented Louisiana’s 3rd U.S. Congressional District. Prior to his political career, Landry served 11 years in the Louisiana Army National Guard, was a local police officer, sheriff’s deputy and attorney.

Landry has said that one of his top priorities as governor would be addressing crime in urban areas, pushing a ‘tough-on-crime’ rhetoric, calling for more “transparency” in the justice system and continuing to support capital punishment. Louisiana has the nation’s second-highest murder rate per capita.

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FBI Director Christopher Wray told reporters on a call Sunday that the agency has seen an increase in reported threats in the US in the wake of Hamas attack in Israel. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security both issued a public service announcement and a bulletin to law enforcement agencies last week, warning of possible threats related to the war abroad.

A senior FBI official said during the call that most threats have been deemed not credible by the agency, but Jewish and Muslim institutions have been targeted. The FBI official also noted that over the past week, the agency has seen an uptick in rhetoric targeting “Jewish people as well as Muslim institutions.” Wray said: “Here in the US, we cannot and do not discount the possibility thaat Hamas or other foreign terrorist organizations could exploit the conflict to call on their supporters to conduct attacks on our own soil.”

Wray said that FBI officials have also been meeting with leaders in Jewish and Muslim communities across the US as the threats increase. The goal of these meetings, both in person and over the phone, has been to tell leaders “if you see something that concerns you, please let us know because we want to keep you safe.” The director also noted that the FBI is working to help “identify all Americans who’ve been impacted in (Israel), including those who remain unaccounted for.”

According to the State Department, fifteen Americans are still unaccounted for after the attacks, and over two dozen Americans were killed. Said Wray: “Our victim services specialists are working closely with victims and their families, here and abroad.”

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According to new court documents unsealed on Thursday, New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, have been accused by the Justice Department of conspiring to act as a foreign agent for Egypt. Federal law prohibits Menendez, as a public official, from serving as a foreign agent.

The superseding indictment filed in federal district court in New York charges Menendez with one count of conspiracy for a public official to act as an agent of a foreign principal, the Egyptian government and its officials. Prosecutors said that Menendez “further promised to take and took a series of acts on behalf of Egypt, including on behalf of Egyptian military and intelligence officials, and conspired to do so with” Wael Hana, a New Jersey businessman from Egypt who runs a halal meat company, and his wife. The new indictment claims that Hana and Nadine Menendez “communicated requests and directives from Egyptian officials to Menendez.”

Menendez, his wife Nadine Menendez, Hana and two other New Jersey businessmen were charged last month for allegedly engaging in a bribery scheme. Prosecutors say that all parties were involved in the senator accepting lavish bribes in exchange for official acts. In the initial indictment, Menendez and his wife were charged with three counts — he now faces a total of four counts. The senator pleaded not guilty to all charges during his arraignment on the three counts and temporarily stepped down from his role leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the original charges were brought.

In the initial document, the Justice Department said that a search of Menendez’s New Jersey home in June 2022 yielded “the fruits of Menendez’s and Nadine Menendez’s corrupt bribery agreement.” Federal agents found more than $480,000 in cash stuffed in envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets and a safe, according to court filings. Nadine Menendez is accused of arranging meetings and dinners with Menendez and Egyptian officials in 2018, during which the senator allegedly promised to use his power to “facilitate” foreign military sales and financing in exchange for Hana putting his wife on his company’s payroll.

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed at least 25 Americans have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas, and described gruesome photos and videos he reviewed depicting victims of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israeli civilians.

Blinken, who traveled to Tel Aviv to meet with with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the United States will work with everyone in the region who wants to live in peace. Bliken said at a press conference in Israel: “It’s hard to find the right words. It’s beyond what anyone would ever want to imagine, much less, God forbid, experience. A baby, an infant, riddled with bullets. Soldiers beheaded. Young people burned alive. I could go on, but it’s simply depravity in the worst imaginable way.”

Standing at a podium next to Netanyahu, Blinken said: “Tragically, the number of innocent lives claimed by Hamas’s heinous attacks continues to rise. We joined families in Israel, in the United States, around the world mourning their immeasurable loss.”  He added that the United States will “always be there” for the nation as they deal with the ramifications of the attack by Hamas terrorists: “People of Israel have long and rightly prided themselves on their self-reliance, on their ability to defend themselves, even when the odds are stacked against them. The message that I bring to Israel is this: You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself. But as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will always be there by your side.”

Blinken and Netanyahu spoke to alleged war crimes Hamas has committed during its attack on Israel, including the burning of bodies and killing of families after breaking into their homes. Netanyahu said: “Hamas has shown itself to be an enemy of civilization. President Biden was correct in calling this sheer evil. Hamas is ISIS and just as ISIS was crushed, so too will Hamas be crushed. Hamas should be treated exactly the way ISIS was treated. They should be spat out from the community of nations. No leader should meet them. No country should harbor them.”

Blinken went on to say that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people and what they want for their future, adding: “Hamas has only one agenda — to destroy Israel and murder Jews. No country can or would tolerate the slaughter of its citizens.” Blinken said Israel has the right to defend itself to make sure such an attack never happens again, but stressed that every precaution must be made to protect “every innocent life.”

Senior Palestinian Authority officials announced that Blinken is also scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday. CNN reported that Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to Jordan and Qatar, after he leaves Israel.

Blinken in Israel: At least 25 Americans killed in ‘heinous’ Hamas attacks

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