The jury trial of Joseph Czuba, who is accused of murdering six-year-old Wadea al-Fayoume, begins.

Oday al-Fayoume attends a vigil service at the Prairie Activity and Recreation Center for his son Wadea, a six-year-old Muslim boy who, according to police, was stabbed to death in an attack that targeted him and his mother for their religion and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas, in Plainfield, Illinois, the United States, on October 17, 2023 [Jim Vondruska/Reuters]

The trial for six-year-old Palestinian Wadea al-Fayoume’s murder begins in Chicago. Joseph Czuba faces hate crime charges, but his killing reflects a growing wave of anti-Palestinian hate in the US. As Islamophobia rises post-October 7, will this trial deliver justice?

In this episode:

  • Ahmed Rehab (@ahmed.m.rehab) – Executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Chicago

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Ashish Malhotra, Sonia Bhagat, and Tamara Khandaker, with Sarí el-Khalili, Chloe K. Li, Marcos Bartolome, Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Melanie Marich, and our guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Kylene Kiang. 

The Take production team is Marcos Bartolomé, Sonia Bhagat, Sarí el-Khalili, Tamara Khandaker, Phillip Lanos, Chloe K. Li, Ashish Malhotra, Khaled Soltan, Amy Walters, and Noor Wazwaz. Our editorial interns are Melanie Marich, Hagir Saleh and Hanah Shokeir. Our guest host is Kevin Hirten. Our engagement producers are Adam Abou-Gad and Vienna Maglio. Aya Elmileik is lead of audience engagement.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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