The leader of CASA of Maryland, an immigrant rights organization, says the organization’s apology over comments on the war in Gaza comes after consultation with members of the Jewish community.
In an interview with WTOP, Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA, said that the apology issued by his group came after “receiving comments from a lot of great friends and partners in the Jewish community.”
CASA was roundly criticized after members of the group attended an anti-war demonstration in Washington, D.C., and after the group’s social media account on X included a statement referring to “the systematic ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.” Another post included an image of a marcher with a sign reading, “From the river to the sea,” a statement that’s been taken to mean support for the elimination of Israel among a number of groups.
Torres said that CASA stands for “peace and humanity, and that’s exactly what we are trying to communicate” in the recent apology.
Torres told WTOP that “this is a very painful experience and situation for so many of our friends, and I just want to, one more time, say I’m so sorry and I want to move forward and learn from this.”
The content was removed from social media and CASA has pledged to engage in “internal trainings on anti-Semitic, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias.”
Maryland Matters reported that the apology came two days after CASA lost the support of a major donor. The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation announced it was rescinding $150,000 in planned donations to the group until CASA made public attempts to demonstrate an understanding of the harm done.
Torres was asked if the apology was linked to that withdrawal of support and told WTOP that was not the case. He said, “We were consulting with a lot of partners and friends about educating ourselves before we made the statement,” which is why the apology wasn’t issued sooner.
Referring to the conditioned withdrawal of support from the Weinberg Foundation, Torres said, “We really, really, really appreciate the extraordinary partnership that we had with them for the past 15 years and we are really sad that they made that decision.”
Montgomery County Council member Natali Fani-Gonzalez was among those who publicly criticized CASA following its initial comments on the war in Gaza.
Speaking to WTOP after the apology from CASA was released, Fani-Gonzalez said CASA has been critical to providing needed services to the most vulnerable populations in the county and “we need them to be inclusive to really understand the differences that we have in our communities in terms of religion, race and so on and so forth.”
And she added, she looks forward to “working with them as they learn from this experience.”
CASA has also been supported by other organizations in the face of the recent criticism.
The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement saying, “The ACLU of Maryland firmly supports CASA and their fundamental First Amendment right to issue statements of concern in the public forum.”
On Sunday, CASA is among those expected to be presented with the Heschel Vision Award by Jews United for Justice for CASA’s “powerful organizing on campaigns for migrant justice, renters’ rights and so much more.”
