Hamilton MPP Sarah Jama removes name from open letter questioning alleged Hamas sexual violence

Hamilton Centre MPP Sarah Jamasays she has removed her name from an open letter that voiced support for the people of Gaza andquestionedthe validity of sexual assault claims against Hamas.

The Independent MPP addedher name to the open letterlast week after thereopening of her constituency office, wheresomeone presented Jama with a physical copy of the letter.

In an email to CBC Hamilton, Jama's officeconfirmed she removed her name Monday afternoon.

Theletter calledfor:

• An immediate ceasefire.
• Urgent restoration of water and other necessities.
• Open humanitarian corridors and crossings for medical reasons.
• Israel to "free all Palestinianprisoners."
• Israel to "lift its siege on Gaza, and end its illegal occupation."

Jama's office said she signed the letter to supportthe calls listed above.

"Sarah has signed onto many petitions in good faith calling for a ceasefire, including a federal petition sponsored by the NDP that has received hundreds of thousands of signatures across the country," her officewrote.

The letter also saidsexual assault claims against Hamas were "unverified," and called on members of parliament to resign.

Jama's team didn't say why she removed her name, but said shestandsagainst all forms of violence and sexual assault.

The director of University of Alberta'ssexual assault centre was replaced after endorsing the letter.

On social media platform X, formerly called Twitter, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs thanked the University of Alberta for its"decisive action" andasked:"Shouldn't a sexual assault centre believe all victims, including the Jewish ones?"

Israeli authorities have said they'reinvestigating several reportedcases of sexual assault and rape during Hamas's Oct. 7 attack.

Last week, Israel's national police chief showed a small group of international reporters video testimony from an eyewitness at a music festival in southern Israel who described watching another woman being violently sexually assaulted by multiple people before she was shot in the head.

JamaquestionedHamas sexual assault claims before

A video also spread on social media last week in whichJamasaid claims of sexual assaultduring theOct. 7 attack had"been disproven publicly," despite claims from theIsraeli government.

"The[Israel Defense Forces] themselves have said there's no actual evidence of these rapes and the babies with their heads cut off. All of these are pieces of misinformation," she said in the video, recordedearlier this month.

Jama's officeverified the video, saying it was a clip from an hour-long lecture alongside Michael Lynk,a former United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories and associateprofessor at Western Universityin London, Ont.

"She was attempting toshed light on propaganda from the state of Israel ... [and] tohighlight that we must be very critical of what we read on the internet and that the fog of war made credible information difficult to discern," her office wrote.

"We have seen this to be true many times over with the amount of misinformation continuously spreading about forms of violence being used in this conflict."

Avi Asher-Schapiro, atech reporter with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, told CBC's Front Burner last monththat both "Israelis and Hamas are going to engage in propaganda... to spread their version of events," he said, speaking about no specific claim."Algorithmically driven" social media feeds make the situation complex, he added.

"It's the job of human rights organizations, international monitors, careful journalists to confirm accounts, you know, with witness testimony, through verification, through newer techniques of open source investigations," he said.

"I'm hopeful we'll get to the bottom of all the sorts of claims of horrific atrocities that have come out of the region."

WATCH |Hamilton Centre MPP Sarah Jama describes being removed fromOntario NDP caucus:

Hamilton Centre MPP Sarah Jama describes being removed from the Ontario NDP caucus

11 months ago

Duration 1:16

Sarah Jama said she learned of her removal from the Ontario NDP via email and has not heard from party leader Marit Stiles.

Jamawas previously a New Democratic Party(NDP) MPP, but was removed from caucus.

The NDPsaid it was because Jama took"a number of unilateral actions" and contributed"to unsafe work environments" for staff.

Jama said she was kicked outbecause shecalled for a ceasefire in Gaza"too early" andshecalled Israel an "apartheid state."

A 2022 Amnesty International report formally accused the Israeli government of building an apartheid state in its occupied territories, but Canada has said it rejects the view that "Israel's actions constitute apartheid."

Her ouster from the NDPcameafter she posteda statement to social media site X on Oct. 10 that calledfor an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as well as an "end to all occupation of Palestinian land."

The statementprompted supportfrom groups such as Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle Eastand condemnation from groups such asThe Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.