The leader of Ontario’s NDP is calling on one of its own members to retract a statement on the Israel-Gaza war, which she says was not approved by the caucus.
In a post and accompanying statement to X, formerly Twitter, Tuesday afternoon, Hamilton Centre MPP Sarah Jama addressed the intensifying violence in the Middle East saying, “I'm reflecting on my role as a politician who is participating in this settler colonial system, and I ask that all politicians do the same.”
“I call for an immediate ceasefire and de-escalation. We must look to the solution to this endless cycle of death and destruction: end all occupation of Palestinian land and end apartheid,” the two-paragraph statement reads in part.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said Jama’s comments were not in line, nor approved by, the party and that she has asked the Hamilton Centre representative to take back her remarks.
“The terrorist attacks by Hamas on thousands of innocent Israeli civilians are unjustifiable and must be condemned unequivocally,” Stiles wrote in a statement issued by the party to CTV News Toronto Tuesday evening.
“We call for an immediate ceasefire and de-escalation to prevent further bloodshed in Israel and Gaza, and for a political solution to bring lasting peace to the region.”
Both the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) condemned Jama’s remarks and called for her removal from the Ontario NDP caucus.
“The statement from Jama on social media, which refuses to acknowledge the atrocities committed by the terror group Hamas against Israeli civilians, is deeply troubling. After more than 900 people, including infants and the elderly, were brutally massacred, and numerous others were tortured and taken hostage, such a statement is nothing short of abhorrent,” the FSWC said in a statement.
Meanwhile, interim Ontario Liberal Leader John Fraser also called for Jama's removal from caucus.
"It’s almost four hours later and still no retraction or response from Sarah Jama. It shouldn’t take this long when your leader asks you publicly to retract," he said in a post to X.
Jama’s previous pro-Palestinian advocacy has drawn the ire of the Jewish organization B'nai Brith, which called her a "radical anti-Israel advocate" in the lead up to a Hamilton by-election in March.
At a debate during that campaign, Jama addressed the allegations against her and said "Things that have been called out online (are) me standing up for Palestinian human rights, and that cannot be conflated with antisemitism.”
At time of writing, Jama’s post remains up.
The Israeli military said Tuesday that more than 1,000 people, including 155 soldiers, have been killed in Israel following Saturday’s surprise attack by Hamas.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, reprisal airstrikes by Israel since Saturday have resulted in 900 deaths in Gaza, including 260 children and 230 women, with an additional 4,500 individuals wounded, they said Tuesday.
