Dear ONDP Leader Marit Stiles, President Janelle Brady, ONDP Caucus and Executive,
The Ontario Socialist Caucus demands that the Ontario NDP immediately apologize to MPP Sarah Jama and the Palestinian community for its recent Twitter censuring actions.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council and other human rights groups released statements similar to the twitter released by American scholar Noura Erakat.
“The death of Khader Adnan is a tragic testament to Israel’s cruel and inhumane detention policy and practices … The systematic practice of administrative detention is tantamount to a war crime.”
We call on the Ontario NDP to stop bowing to pressure from B’nai Brith Canada and join the human rights community in condemning Israel’s illegal detention of Palestinians and its occupation, apartheid and colonial regime in Palestine.
Furthermore, the Ontario NDP must cease obstructing its caucus members and other party members who call out Israel’s abusive practices against Palestinians. It should be noted that the federal NDP’s Foreign Affairs Critic Heather McPherson has condemned “Israel’s human rights abuses and discrimination (including illegal detentions) that have wrought despair and hopelessness among Palestinians.” In an April 20, 2023 statement she reiterated other key components of the NDP policy on Israel-Palestine when she called on the federal government to:
* Refuse meetings with far-right extremists in the Israeli government
* Ban arms sales to Israel until Palestinian human rights are respected and
* Ban the import of all goods produced in illegal settlements
Sincerely,
Tom Baker, Ontario NDP Socialist Caucus
