JOLIET, Ill. — An Illinois man was found guilty Friday in the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and the wounding of his mother, an attack that prosecutors said was motivated by anti-Muslim hate, just days after Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.

Joseph Czuba, 73, was convicted of first-degree murder and hate crimes for the fatal stabbing of 6-year-old Wadea Al Fayoumi and the attack on his mother, a Palestinian-American family targeted amid a climate of anti-Palestinian rhetoric and media bias.

A suburban Chicago landlord took a knife from a belt holder and attacked a Palestinian American woman before fatally stabbing her young son 26 times, prosecutors alleged Tuesday during opening statements in the trial for a 2023 murder and hate crime.