Landlord kills Palestinian-American boy, 6, injures mother in hate crime – National & International News – MON 16Oct2023

Landlord kills Palestinian-American boy, 6, and injures mother in hate crime.

Jordan to force a Speaker vote tomorrow.

Gaza border crossing to Egypt remains closed as civilian toll rises.

NATIONAL NEWS

Landlord kills Palestinian-American boy, 6, and injures mother in hate crime

Joseph Czuba, a 71-year-old from Illinois, appeared in court today to face hate crime charges after stabbing a 6-year-old boy to death and gravely injuring the boy’s mother in a crime police say was motivated by anti-Palestinian hate. The boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, and his mother Hanaan Shahin were Palestinian-American and Czuba was their landlord. Shanin immigrated to the US 12 years ago and Wadea was born here. Police say the attack was fueled by the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine. Prosecutors said in court that Czuba, “believed he was in danger and [Shahin] was going to call Palestinian friends to come and harm them”.

Following news of the killing, officials from the Muslim civil rights group CAIR International linking the killing with “lop-sided” and “one-sided” coverage of the Middle East conflict in the US, as well as rampant misinformation. “The Islamophobic rhetoric and anti-Palestinian racism being spread by politicians, media outlets, and social media platforms must stop. Now,” CAIR said in a statement.

Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).

Jordan to force a Speaker vote tomorrow

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has announced he will be forcing a floor vote in the House tomorrow in his bid to become Speaker of the House. Jordan became Speaker-elect last week when the previous Speaker-elect Steve Scalise (R-LA) backed out after failing to garner enough support.

Jordan is a right-wing hardliner who is unlikely to be able to heal divisions with the House GOP. Even Jordan doesn’t seem confident that he will have the 217 votes necessary to become Speaker. But pressure is ramping up to get the House back to work due to the conflict in Israel as well as a deadline to fund the government that is now less than a month away. 

Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Gaza border crossing to Egypt remains closed as civilian toll rises

Despite efforts and assurances earlier in the day from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Gaza’s sole land crossing into Egypt remains closed. The crossing has been closed for nearly a week after Israel shelled the crossing both on the Gaza side and the Egyptian side. This means that many thousands of Gaza’s civilians hoping to flee to safety remain trapped and without water, food, electricity, fuel and other basic necessities thanks to Israel’s weeklong siege.

After telling Gazan civilians in northern Gaza to flee south, there are reports that Israeli Defense Forces have shelled vehicles full of civilians attempting to reach safety. As of Friday, more than 70 fleeing civilians had been killed. There have now been nearly 3,000 civilians in Gaza confirmed killed since Israel began shelling the enclave last week. More than one-third of those killed were children.

It’s becoming more difficult to get news out of Gaza since many have no means of charging their phones after Israel cut off power to Gaza last week.

Meanwhile, Egypt says that Israel to agree to terms to re-open the crossing, including Egypt’s demand that Israel allow much-needed humanitarian aid to enter into Gaza at the crossing. Trucks loaded with supplies have been waiting on the Egyptian side for days waiting for the crossing to reopen.

It’s not clear to what extent Egypt is willing to accept refugees from Gaza. For the moment, negotiations have centered around getting out foreign nationals including 500 or so Americans and an unknown number of Palestinian-Americans.

In northern Israel, there are worrying signs that the conflict may be spreading. Exchanges of missiles and between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon continue to intensify. Israel has ordered an evacuation of settlements near the northern border.

Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).