A landlord murdered a 6-year-old Palestinian child, Wadea Al-Fayoume, by stabbing him 26 times on October 16. Wadea’s mother, Hanaan Shahin, was stabbed 12 times and critically injured, although she is expected to survive her wounds. The landlord who committed this brutal and vicious murder did so because Wadea and Shahin were Palestinian and Muslim. They were targeted because of the violent Islamophobia in the U.S., especially in the wake of Israel’s ongoing attacks against the people of Gaza.
But this murder isn’t just the fault of the landlord. It was more than just him who had their hands on the knife. For the past week-and-a-half, media outlets across the country have been dehumanizing Palestinians and spreading blatant disinformation from the Israeli Defense Forces. Palestinian life is treated as disposable in Israel’s so-called “self-defense.” Media outlets in the U.S. have blood on their hands for this murder.
President Biden issued a statement decrying the killing and condemning “bigotry and hatred.” But where does this bigotry, hatred and disdain for Palestinian life come from? Biden needs only to look in the mirror. For the past week, he has been justifying and green-lighting Israel’s genocide against Palestinians. He has sent two aircraft carrier strike groups to the eastern Mediterranean to show U.S. support for Israel. He’s urged for more aid for the Israeli military. And even in the face of one of the most brutal bombing campaigns of the 21st century, even as Israel tries to literally starve Palestinians living in Gaza to death through blockade, he has repeatedly said that “Israel has a right to defend itself.” Biden has been supporting the murder of Palestinians in Gaza all week. It should be no surprise that his support for genocide abroad would lead to white supremacist violence in the U.S. The blood of Wadea Al-Fayoume is on his hands.
