The leader of Ontario’s NDP is ordering one of her members to withdraw a statement she made about conflict in the Middle East, saying it does not align with the party’s values.
Sarah Jama, who was elected in March, came under fire for a statement on fighting between Israel and Hamas.
On Saturday, Hamas launched a bloody and unprecedented attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip. The group, which the Canadian government has designated a terrorist organization, has controlled the territory since 2007.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by declaring war on the group and promising swift retaliation, including air strikes across Gaza. The country said a “complete siege” of the area had begun, including cutting electricity, food and fuel supplies.
Jama released a statement on social media, under Ontario NDP letterhead, calling for a ceasefire in the troubled region and describing the situation in the Gaza Strip as “apartheid.”
In her statement, Jama demanded Israel “end all occupation of Palestinian land and end apartheid.”
One group working in Holocaust education and antisemitism programs called the MPP’s statement “abhorrent.”
Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center demanded the NDP remove Jama from the party.
“It is long past time for the Ontario NDP to take decisive action and remove Sarah Jama from its caucus,” the group said.
“Her continued presence in the party not only undermines the values and principles that the NDP stands for but also sends a disturbing message that her views are tolerated, or worse, condoned.”
Stiles said Jama’s statement was not approved by the caucus.
“I have asked that she retract her statement, and state clearly that she decries any violence against both Israeli and Palestinian people,” Stiles said.
Meanwhile, Premier Doug Ford also called for Jama’s resignation, insisting her statement was “disturbing.”
“Her views do not represent Ontario,” Ford said in his own statement.
“They have no place in the legislature, and they have no place in this province.”
Hours earlier, interim Ontario Liberal Leader John Fraser called on Stiles to remove Jama due to her failure to retract the statement.
“It shouldn’t take this long when your leader asks you publicly to retract,” he wrote.
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Jama did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
She won the Hamilton Centre byelection to replace former party leader Andrea Horwath.
Jama attracted criticism from some, including the Jewish group B’nai Brith, for her stance on Israel and her comments about Palestine before she became an MPP and during her byelection campaign.
B’nai Brith said she was a “radical anti-Israel advocate” and other groups later weighed in, saying they were troubled by some of what they heard from Jama.
During the campaign, Jama also took heat online for a video circulating of her speaking at a rally, reportedly in 2021. In it, she accuses the Hamilton police of targeting Palestinian organizers, saying, “over and over and over again, the Hamilton police protect Nazism in our city.”
She also talks about Israel, saying despite a change of government in the country in 2021, “the same people will continue to fund the killing of people here, locally and globally.”
Jama later apologized for her “poor choice of words.”
— with files from The Canadian Press
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