Sean Casten Afraid Of Primary Loss: LETTER

How do you know an incumbent is worried about losing the primary election? He introduces a bill that attempts to cover up his complicity in an ongoing genocide, his disregard for his constituency and his desire to maintain the status quo in Congress.

For two years, Congressman Sean Casten ignored us. He ignored the slaughter of over 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza. He ignored the destruction of every university, hospital, and most residential neighborhoods. He ignored famine. He ignored the killing of journalists, doctors, and children and he ignored his own Palestinian constituents. The largest Palestinian constituency in the United States.

Now, in the final weeks of a primary he is terrified of losing to an opponent that embodies every fiber of integrity, accountability, courage and respect he lacks, he introduces the so-called Ceasefire Compliance Act of 2026.

This bill is not about accountability or justice, and it is not designed to end U.S. complicity in the genocide of my Palestinian brothers and sisters. This bill is designed to be a political shield intended to gaslight voters who have demanded real change.

For decades, the United States has had the legal tools to stop arming human rights violators and has chosen to ignore them when it applies to the Israeli apartheid regime.

Under the Foreign Assistance Act (22 U.S.C. § 2378d), commonly known as the Leahy Law, the U.S. is prohibited from providing aide to any foreign security forces implicated in gross violations of human rights.

Under the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. § 2754), U.S. weapons may only be used for legitimate self-defense and internal security; not collective punishment, not annexation, not forced displacement.

Under the Geneva Conventions, to which the United States is a party, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention: Article 33 prohibits collective punishment. Article 49 prohibits forcible transfer and deportation of protected persons and prohibits settlement of the occupying power’s civilians into occupied territory. Article 147 defines grave breaches, including willful killing and extensive destruction of property not justified by military necessity.

Under the Genocide Convention, there is an obligation not only to punish genocide, but to prevent it. When a state continues to provide weapons and political masks while mass killing and starvation unfold, it is enabling genocide.

Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, war crimes include intentional direct attacks against civilians and using starvation as a method of warfare. A law the United States, including Congressman Sean Casten, continue to ignore.

For decades, binding United Nations Security Council resolutions have made it clear that settlement expansion and annexation in the West Bank violate international law. Yet the United States, including our Congressman, Sean Casten, persistently provide weapons and political cover ups while those violations continue.

Congressman Sean Casten did not need a new bill to stop genocide. He needed the courage to enforce existing laws and to speak up and stand up for his Palestinian constituents and their cries for justice.

Instead, his bill creates layers of certifications, reports, monitoring groups, and waivers, while explicitly preserving U.S. weapons sales and aid to Israel. It also allows for a presidential waiver if deemed “vital to national security” and we have all seen how the US determines what is “vital to national security” when it applies to Israel.

Even the structure of the bill reinforces the same failed framework: it centers Israel’s “security” while Palestinians are reduced to humanitarian management and “technocratic committees.” It speaks of preventing annexation while decades of de facto annexation have already been funded with U.S. taxpayer dollars.

When you ignore genocide for two years, deliberately brush off your constituents’ pleas, and then suddenly roll out a bill in the final weeks of a contested primary, voters see exactly what’s happening. Your numbers are slipping, your opponent is gaining ground, and this is a rushed, failed, attempt to save face, not an act of courage.

For over 75 years, since the Nakba of 1948, the United States has funded, armed, and shielded Israel’s occupation, settlement expansion, apartheid policies, and now the destruction of Gaza.

If Congressman Sean Casten truly wanted to break from that history, he would call for an immediate, full suspension of all military aid to Israel. Demand enforcement of the Leahy Law and the Arms Export Control Act. Support accountability at the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court. Recognize that Palestinians are not a security problem to be managed, but a people entitled to freedom, equality, and the right to return to the land from which they were displaced.

Instead, we are handed a conditional compliance framework that preserves the core tenant of Congressman Sean Casten’s support of a genocide while offering just enough political jargon to survive a primary challenge.

We will not allow Congressman Sean Casten to gaslight us into believing that a last-minute, waiver-filled, five-year bill is justice for 75 years of occupation and two years of genocide. Most importantly, we will not forget his silence or his attacks on those who dared to hold him accountable for his complicity.

And I will not be silent while my community is erased.

Sawsan Abubaker

Palestinian American constituent of Illinois’ 6th District