A Senate hearing on hate crime becomes a horror show for mother of slain child

(RNS) — In the front row of a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday (Sept. 17) sat Hanaan Shahin, the mother of Wadea Al-Fayoume, the 6-year-old Palestinian American who was brutally killed last October amid escalating anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic feeling in the aftermath of Hamas’ attack on Israel. Authorities say Wadea’s 71-year-old landlord had stabbed him 26 times, shouting “You Muslims must die!”

The attacker also stabbed Shahin 12 times and strangled her before she broke free. Only by the grace of God is she still alive. 

And here she was in Washington, having been told Wadea’s name would be honored at the Senate committee’s hearing on hate crimes in the United States spurred in part by a resolution honoring Wadea aimed at preventing more heartbreak like hers.

But one by one, Republican senators turned the hate crime hearing into the gross political theater that Washington has become accustomed to. They used the moment to antagonize Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute and the one Arab woman on the panel, and to spew the same type of anti-Palestinian bigotry that got Wadea killed. At one point Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana shouted at Berry, “You should hide your head in a bag!”

It was a horror that Shahin, whose attacker, intoxicated by that kind of hate, put her son in a body bag less than a year ago, should not have been subjected to. It was cold, callous, hateful and, remarkably, not surprising at all.

This is what has been happening in Congress on a regular basis. The checks for more weapons to exterminate Palestinians abroad are signed, a war criminal like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is honored and senators such as Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham, who were present for Tuesday’s panel, get their checks and talking points from pro-Israel donors.

Family members of Wadea Al-Fayoume bring out his casket from the Mosque Foundation to the hearse in Bridgeview, Ill., Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Even when Muslim Americans and Arab Americans attempt to honor our murdered American children, we get deflection, antagonism, disregard and dehumanization.

And who wasn’t there? Senators Cory Booker, Jon Ossoff and other Democrats conveniently missed the panel. The Republicans were vile, the Democrats were absent and the Palestinians invisible. 

The attendees in the room, the majority of whom were there in the traditional Palestinian garments called kaffiyehs, were audibly jolted and insulted by the arrogance and cruelty demonstrated by the senators. The person with the most right to be insulted, however, sat quietly with a dignified smile.

This is typical of Shahin, whom I have come to know as sweet, polite and jovial; nothing in her public appearance shows that she has been put through the worst nightmare any parent can suffer. She makes a point of smiling at everyone, thanking well-wishers for the most basic expressions of care. She excuses those filled with the same hatred her son’s murderer bore, saying, “They just don’t know any better because of the news.”

She has no interest in political commentary. She has told me more than once as interviewers asked questions, “I just want to talk about my son and his life.” And she does, telling funny stories about baby Wadea. The sadness of realizing she won’t get to enjoy those moments with him again in this world sometimes overtakes her. But out of her grace, she holds her tears back and continues to smile.

She came to Washington as a human being, only to encounter people committed to her dehumanization. Those providing the means for the deaths of 18,000 Palestinian children in Gaza felt no need to acknowledge her or that the death of her child deserved any mention in their presence.

With all of that, Shahin still said “al hamdulillah” (all praise is due to Allah). Her most powerful quote of the day was to say, “We as Palestinians remain in struggle no matter where we go. It’s who we are. And Allah is with the patient wherever they are.”

Ameen.