When Palestinian Constituents Speak, Congress Looks Away: Letter

I am a Palestinian American born in Chicago, who lived under Israeli occupation as a young child. Gaza is being devastated. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, overwhelmingly innocent men, women and children, continue to be killed, every day, totaling more than 100,000. As a constituent of Congressional District IL-06, I ask a direct question of Congressman Sean Casten: when will Palestinian lives matter enough to require you to understand a full genocide is taking place?

Congressman Casten refuses to discuss this with those most directly affected by U.S. foreign policy and most consistently ignored by it: Casten’s constituents.

Congressman Casten presents himself as thoughtful and humane towards the Palestinians. Yet to most Democratic and Independent constituents, his record reflects a different reality: one shaped by donor influence, sponsored travel, and fully ignoring Israel’s mass killing of civilians in Gaza.

Congressman Casten and his senior staff have participated in multiple sponsored trips to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. These include Casten’s travel in 2019 and February 2024, as well as trips taken by his senior foreign policy and legislative staffer in 2022 and July 2024. These trips were funded by the American Israel Education Foundation (AIPAC) and J Street Education Fund, which hosted them to favorably curated locations centered on Israeli political philosophies, military, and security perspectives.

These Israeli trips do not show the full truth of severe checkpoints, home demolitions, ongoing violence, arbitrary detention, restricted movement, or a system that leading human rights organizations have described as apartheid. Without exposure to this reality, policymaking remains fundamentally against most Palestinian, Democratic and Independent constituents in Illinois, and across the country.

Such trips are often described as “educational.” But education requires exposure to all facts. Sponsored trips by Israel-focused advocacy organizations are designed to cultivate sympathy for Israel’s position and deeply influence how U.S. lawmakers understand the conflict. These trips function much like political donations: they create access, influence perspective, and force policy alignment. Congressman Casten and others who received donations from pro-Israel groups and individual donors, know the money from these donors will go away if they do not comply. Thus, they comply.

Meanwhile, Americans face skyrocketing costs of living while tens of billions of dollars are sent to one country, Israel.

In the summer of 2025, a group of allied constituents repeatedly requested a meeting with Congressman Casten to discuss Gaza and U.S. weapons transfers. These requests began in June 2025 after a town hall meeting, which I attended, where a senior staff member explicitly asked me to follow up by email to schedule a meeting. That email went unanswered. In August, our group sent additional requests. Again, no response.

Only after I called Casten’s office directly and stated we were being ignored while white constituents were granted meetings, did I receive a response, (we shared proof with his office). Even then, the meeting was not with Congressman Casten, but with a foreign policy adviser.

In that meeting, I asked why Congressman Casten declined to co-sponsor the Block the Bombs Act, which would restrict U.S. offensive weapons transfers used in Gaza. I was told the bill failed to meet his standards because it did not name other countries in the region and lacked a sunset clause. This was an irrelevant and illogical answer at best.

Notably, Israel is the only country currently carrying out mass civilian killings in Gaza using U.S.- supplied weapons, actions numerous human rights organizations and legal experts have confirmed is genocide.

As for the sunset clause: stopping the killing is the sunset. Accountability works only if consequences exist while violations are ongoing.

Casten’s staffer also pointed to a 2024 vote opposing an Israel military aid package because it lacked humanitarian assistance for Gaza. But bombing civilians and promising aid afterward is not protection, it is damage control. Feeding people after destroying their neighborhoods and killing their family members does not absolve the original action.

Casten has accepted direct support from J Street’s PAC and many pro-Israel leaders. While AIPAC, as an organization, does not donate directly, individuals affiliated with its leadership routinely contribute to congressional campaigns, including his. These networks fund sponsored travel, frequent pro-Israel briefings, and help shield Israel from accountability, even when U.S. law is violated, such as the Leahy Law, which prohibits U.S. military assistance to foreign security forces credibly implicated in gross human rights violations.

Voters increasingly understand how money and access shape policy, and they are demanding change. As such, Congressman Casten needs to change or face being unelected.

Sawsan Abubaker, E.A., CTC, CNE
Worth