Anadolu Ajansı: American-Muslim community in 'pain and anger' after killing of Palestinian-American boy: CAIR

Written by: Islam Dogru

Ahmed Rehab, head of the Chicago office for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told Anadolu that the funeral of the 6-year-old is expected to be "one of the biggest funerals" because "there's a lot of pain and anger in the community".

According to Rehab, the anger is "not only because of losing this wonderful, angel child, but the conditions that created this".

"You know, we feel there's been a fanning of the flames of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian sentiment to the degree that someone, a weak-minded person, could have been radicalized into attacking their own neighbors and killing them in this vicious fashion," he said.

Noting the child's mother is still in “serious condition,” he said: "And my heart goes out to the mother, most of all, because she was the one who witnessed the crime and saw her son in this condition. So she must have mental trauma, in addition to her own serious injuries".

Rehab said the CAIR is sending letters to schools to ask them to be proactive against anti-Muslim sentiments and it is also working with officials to make sure mosques are safe.

He also criticized the US administration's "one-sided" statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying that those statements "dehumanized" Palestinians, and "helped create this atmosphere of anti-Muslim sentiment and anti-Palestinian sentiment".

He also accused the US media of its "one-sided" and "very imbalanced" coverage.