Darien Man Counters Gaza Ceasefire Backer

DARIEN, IL – A Darien man who found himself in the thick of last month's debate over a proposed Gaza ceasefire resolution at a City Council meeting returned to criticize the resolution's backers Monday.

Resident Kelly Glisan had a lot to say about a woman with whom he argued the last time.

At the last meeting, Naperville resident Enida Abdeen said during public comments that someone told her she was unwelcome at the meeting. Glisan asked, "Who said that?"

"I believe it was you," Abdeen said.

Glisan and others objected.

Abdeen appeared to have been referring to Glisan's statement at the podium about the "unwelcome interjection of people who do not reside in this community."

Abdeen contended Glisan said this when he noticed her entering the room, although the door would have been to his back. Describing herself as European white, she said Glisan probably made the comment because she was wearing a kufiya, a garment with Arabic origins.

At Monday's meeting, Glisan said he was speaking about a "raucous group of outside agitators."

"An unwelcome interjection is not a Caucasian individual wearing a kufiya of Arabic origin. It's not a racist statement," Glisan said.

He said Abdeen said at the May 6 meeting that she was ashamed to be an American. In describing her opposition to U.S. policy on Gaza, she actually said, "I'm embarrassed to be an American."

Glisan said a couple of his colleagues "skip-traced" Abdeen to an apartment complex in Naperville. (The information can be obtained through White Pages and other sites.)

He said he was glad Abdeen doesn't live in his ward in Darien.

"Make no mistake, I'm proud to be an American," Glisan said. "If someone says they're ashamed to be an American, that's their right to do so. It's something I disagree with."

At the last meeting, the Darien City Council rejected the ceasefire supporters' proposed resolution, which was nearly identical to the one that the Burr Ridge Village Board approved.

The resolution condemns the massacre of innocent Israeli and U.S. citizens and others during Hamas' terrorist attacks on Oct. 7.

It also denounces the killing and injuring of thousands of innocent Palestinians in Gaza caused by Israel's retaliation against Hamas.

At Monday's meeting, Glisan said the resolution was filled with hatred and racism, containing "trigger words" that he did not identify. (He later told Patch that the words were "genocide" and "ethnic cleansing." Burr Ridge edited out those words in its resolution.)

"It's like Adolf Hitler got together with Saul Olinsky and came up with this resolution," he said. "It was antisemitic. It was anti-Hebrew. It was anti-Jewish. And it was embarrassing for those that supported it."

He disagreed with the arguments that Israel is pursuing genocide in Gaza. He then mentioned Noel Manley, a vocal Darien conservative who was in the audience.

"If anyone has a beef about genocide, it's my good friend, Noel Manley ... 99 percent of (his tribe) were killed. I mean basically his tribe was eliminated by holocaust by what I'm embarrassed to say are white ancestors like me," Glisan said.

Glisan, Manley and others also spoke for a policy that would bar the City Council from taking up resolutions that deal with national and international issues. The council later passed the measure.