CAIR Urges End To ‘anti-Muslim Bigotry’ After Brutal Murder Of Palestinian Boy In Chicago

WASHINGTON, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Oct, 2023) The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group, Monday called for an end to “dehumanizing anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian bigotry” in politics and media following the killing of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy and the wounding of his mother because the family is Muslim.

CAIR also welcomed a U.S. Justice Department hate crime investigation of the stabbing death of the child. Joseph Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, two counts of a hate crime and "aggravated battery", a serious offense of felony grade, with a deadly weapon.

Officials say the victims were “targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.”

“We welcome the Federal hate crime investigation and hope this tragic case will remind public officials and commentators why they must end dehumanizing anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian bigotry when speaking out about the ongoing violence in the Middle East,” CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, said in a statement.

“Media outlets, political leaders and major corporations have spent more than a week ignoring the suffering of the Palestinian people, justifying war crimes against Palestinians, and spreading inflammatory propaganda and misinformation aimed at Muslims and Palestinians here in America," he said.. This must end. Now,” the CAIR official added.

CAIR-Chicago decried the stabbing death of an six-year-old Palestinian-American boy and the stabbing of his mother as “our worst nightmare.”

The have been a number of anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian incidents across the United States since the outbreak of war in the Middle East.

CAIR’s Philadelphia office recently urged state and federal law enforcement agencies to charge a white male with hate crimes and ethnic intimidation for an allegedly racially-motivated brandishing of a pistol against Muslims protesting Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza at the footsteps of the Pennsylvania State Capitol.

CAIR-Texas called for the arrest of several men seen harassing students at the University of Texas during a Palestine Solidarity Committee meeting on the recent violence and deaths in the Gaza Strip.

CAIR-San Diego responded to hate vandalism targeting a mosque.

CAIR-Missouri condemned a X (formerly Twitter) post by a professor at Washington University in St. Louis allegedly calling for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and claiming they are not “humans.”

CAIR’s Michigan chapter applauded the swift arrest of a Michigan resident who was allegedly making credible threats against Palestinians in Dearborn and calls on prosecutors to charge Farmington Hills resident with a hate crime under Michigan’s current Ethnic Intimidation Law.

CAIR’s Cleveland chapter called for a hate crime investigation after an individual reportedly breached security protocols to gain unauthorized access to its office in an apparent attempt to disrupt the private event held by the civil rights organization.

CAIR’s Philadelphia office called on ParetoHealth to clarify its position after one of its employees allegedly created a public document in Google Sheets targeting Harvard University students supporting Palestinian human rights.

CAIR-NY condemned NYC Councilwoman Inna Vernikov for allegedly bringing and displaying a gun at a pro-Palestine protest and called for her immediate removal from office, and condemned alleged anti-Palestinian attacks in Brooklyn and called on public officials and the media to end anti-Palestinian incitement.

CAIR’s Masschusetts chapter called on law enforcement authorities to investigate vandalism targeting a sign for Palestinian and Islamic organizations in Boston as a possible hate crime.

MUSLIM tv ANCHORS SUSPENDED

Meanwhile, amid rising hate for Muslims, especially Palestinians, MSNBC, a major US TV network, has suspended shows hosted by three Muslim anchors -- Mehdi Hasan, Ayman Mohyeldin, and Ali Velshi -- following Hamas's attack inside Israel last week, according to Arab News.

On Saturday, Arab News reported that MSNBC chose not to air the weekly episode of 'The Mehdi Hasan Show' and scrapped the plan of having Mohieddine to anchor a show on Thursday and Friday. Sources also revealed to Arab News that another anchor was replacing Velshi for his upcoming weekend shows. MSNBC, however, "vehemently pushed back against any notion that either Hasan or Mohieddine were being sidelined in any way," Semafor, a news website, said in its report.

However, two sources directly involved with the decision confirmed the suspension to Arab News. "There is a lot of un-clarity over what happens next," one of the sources told Arab News. "But the mood is very similar to what had happened post 9/11 with the whole you are either with us or against us argument," he added.

"Sadly, this has now gone beyond political views and is targeting anchors of a particular faith," he said. Although Velshi continues to provide ground reports for other programmes, Arab News sources said the fate of the three anchors on the network remains unclear.