Members of the Montgomery County Council are demanding that the Silver Spring-based immigrant rights group CASA retract a statement it posted, then removed, on social media that was critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The statement Monday by CASA Executive Director Gustavo Torres said the nonprofit group stands in “steadfast solidarity with the people of Palestine.”
The statement accused Israel of “systematic ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.” While it condemned the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel, it charged that Israel has unleashed “the heinous practice of terror” in Gaza. It called for an immediate cease-fire and condemned U.S. military aid to Israel.
The group, which receives federal, state and county funding to advance its program of aid to immigrants, also linked the Palestinian struggle with those of the immigrant communities it supports, whose countries, the statement said, have been “wrecked by the damage of U.S. economic and political intervention.”
The statement has since been removed from CASA’s website and social media pages.
CASA’s statement drew pushback from several members of the Montgomery County Council, including Council Vice President Andrew Friedson, who told WTOP the nonprofit must repair the damage its statement created in a community that has long supported its goal of helping immigrants.
“I think that it was damaging. I think it was divisive. I think it was destructive, and I think that it needs to be formally retracted,” Friedson, who is Jewish, said. “It was so misinformed that it just caused tremendous damage and tremendous harm and frankly, tremendous harm for some of the very people who have been CASA’s most ardent supporters and most steadfast partners.”
Council members Gabe Albornoz and Natali Fani-González also condemned CASA’s remarks, issuing a joint statement that said the nonprofit’s comments “made an already emotional and horrific situation in our community worse.
“CASA is an organization that we deeply respect and have both supported and worked with for decades to advance social justice and build bridges in our community,” the joint statement said. “That’s why we denounce the statement and are so hurt by their recent divisive and ill-informed comments and actions.”
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the nonprofit said it will issue another statement in the future as it works to “refine our message and clarify our values.”
“We have received feedback from our dear and trusted partners, who have expressed their concerns about the impact of our language,” CASA said. “We take the feedback received to heart and are determined to use it as an opportunity for growth, understanding, and positive change.”
Friedson said in a follow-up statement he hopes CASA will formally retract its previous comments and “use this painful misstep” as a learning opportunity to engage with the area’s Jewish community to repair any damage caused.
“They have stopped further damage from being done, but they need to repair the damage that’s been done,” Friedson told WTOP. “And that starts with rebuilding the relationships that had been broken as a result of this inflammatory and inaccurate and deeply hurtful and offensive statement.”
CASA did not respond to calls from WTOP for comment.
