Nick Sous, a member of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, looks at a woman after their confrontation during a U.S. Rep. Sean Casten town-hall meeting Thursday at Indian Prairie Library in Darien. (Photos by Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, D-Downers Grove, spoke for less than 15 minutes at his town-hall meeting Thursday before pro-Palestinian interruptions started.

As the Sixth District representative was talking in the Indian Prairie Library in Darien about the likelihood that Florida congressmen will push for money from other parts of the economy to cover losses sustained by hurricane victims, the first interruption occurred.

“Sean Casten, you could help all people by stopping to send money to Israel for the twisted and . ongoing genocide of Palestinians like my family,” a woman in the crowd stood and said. “You send 150 million taxpayer dollars from Illinois to Israel every year. You are complicit. We need an arms embargo now, not in 30 days. That money could go to take care of everybody. It’s the same thing as a hurricane.”

As other audience members yelled “Stop” and booed, the woman, who identified herself only as “Christine” to Chronicle Media after the meeting, continued her verbal attack on Casten.

The congressman repeatedly tried to ask the woman to hold her questions and statements until later in the meeting, but she and others continued to make an argument for cutting off funding to Israel.

“I will always admire people’s ability to raise questions and ask them respectfully, but yelling so that nobody else can hear is disrespectful,” Casten said during her interruption.

One woman in the meeting accused the interrupter of “hijacking this meeting.”

“We want to hear other cases of things,” she said. “We’re not going to be hijacked by your one situation.”

Police escorted four people out of the room.

After 10 minutes of disruptions, Casten said he was going to exit for awhile to see “if the temperature of the room changes,” but he did not return.

In tweets on X Thursday night, Casten said. “I apologize to the majority of the people who came and were respectful but were unable to ask their questions. And – to be blunt, I’m sad.

“In the 6 years I’ve been in office, we’ve averaged a town hall a month and have never shied away from controversial topics; we’ve done dedicated, in-person events on Trump’s impeachment, book bans, inflation and any number of other issues with strong differences of opinion.

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten speaks during his town-hall meeting shortly before the event had pro-Palestinian interruptions.

“I’ve always been proud to represent a community where – no matter what the opinion was – people felt confident enough to express them and respectful of the diversity of opinion amongst their neighbors.

“The attack on Israel on 10/7 was horrific. Israel has every right to defend themselves and to bring the hostages home. But there is no conflict in both defending Israel’s right to exist AND criticizing their government for their treatment of the Palestinian people.”

Casten wrote that for democracy to work, people on all sides of an issue have to feel empowered to share their opinion.

“It also requires us to acknowledge that the issue we think is most important is not the issue that is most important to the person sitting next to you,” he said. “And that collective promise is that all will be given the opportunity to share their own concerns and ideas.

“Interrupting, screaming, accusing good people who share goals but disagree about the best way to achieve those goals of unspeakable atrocities is the opposite of that.

“It does not accelerate peace, does not bring hostages home, does not reduce the radicalization that has occurred on both side of the green line since 10/7 and doesn’t lead to a greater democratic wisdom.

“In the words of (the first black governor of Massachusetts) Deval Patrick, we live in a society that too often yells its hatred and whispers its love. I know that love, tolerance and respect has the numbers. But that respect often makes it quiet.

“So thank you to those who brought that respect and quiet love this evening. And I’m sorry we had to end the event early. Keep faith in our institutions. And spread the love.”

A woman interrupts the town-hall meeting saying Casten should stop sending money to Israel. She would only identify herself as “Christine” when approached by Chronicle Media.

“We’re coming here to hold you accountable,” Nick Sous, a member of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, said during one of the disruptions. “We elected you to Congress … You should be ashamed of yourself. You have no right to be in office.”

Sous said Casten has bragged about spending money to bomb people.

“I am a Palestinian and he doesn’t give a damn about me or my family or my people,” Sous told other audience members as he was leaving the building after the abbreviated town hall.

Sous told Chronicle Media that his group has been trying to meet with Casten since the beginning of the Israel-Palestine war.

“We’ve gone into his office, demanded to speak with him while he was in district,” Sous said. “His workers told us that he was suddenly on a plane.”

He said when members of his group went to Casten’s office, the congressman avoided meeting with them and threatened to call the police to have them kicked out of his office.

Sous noted that Casten is an elected official of the largest Palestinian community in the country with his district covering almost 100,000 Palestinians.

“We’ve been calling on him since October of 2023 to put an end to the genocide, to stop funding that genocide,” Sous said. “I know he can’t do anything himself to stop it. He’s not physically dropping the bombs, but he sure as hell is funding it.”

The Burr Ridge resident said Casten brags about bringing $7 million back to the state of Illinois in projects from the federal government, while $150 million a year of Illinois tax dollars goes to supporting Israel.

“We’re going to continue to call him out,” Sous said. “He does not deserve to give anybody his platform if he funds a genocide because that de-legitmizes anything that he does in Congress.

A woman calls on Casten to take action to stop the genocide in Gaza.

“He’s apparently the green advocate for solar power energy and alternative energy and all that stuff while also voting in favor and supporting billions of dollars of bombs polluting the air and land in Gaza.”

Sous said Palestinian supporters will continue to disrupt Casten’s events until he takes action.

“We’ve tried the nice way and we’re well beyond the nice way,” Sous said. “…There’s no place in his district that he can hide from the Palestinian community. We will be holding him accountable.”

kbeese@chronicleillinois.com