British Columbia MLA Selina Robinson has resigned from the governing New Democratic Party, claiming antisemitism within the party and silence from the leadership in the face of it.
March 6, 2024 - "A month after being made to step down as British Columbia’s post-secondary education minister over controversial comments she made about Israel, on Wednesday MLA Selina Robinson announced she is leaving the ruling NDP.
"During an online panel hosted by B’nai B’rith Canada on Jan. 30., Robinson said Israel was offered to Jews who were displaced from their homes. 'They don’t understand that it was a crappy piece of land with nothing on it. You know, there were several hundred thousand people but other than that, it didn’t produce an economy'.... Despite later apologizing and offering to get anti-Islamophobia training, Robinson never regained her place in the NDP. [see vudeo]. Here is the ... letter she wrote to the NDP caucus to announce her resignation:"
My colleagues,
You broke my heart – not just on February 5 when the Premier told me that after the caucus talked about me he did not see a way back, that folks were wondering why I hadn’t already resigned and that the only path forward was a resignation. Resigning was not my choice but I told the Premier that if this was what he wanted and what caucus wanted I wouldn’t fight him on it....
You actually broke my heart in the days after October 7 – the day terrorists went into Israel and brutally murdered, slaughtered, raped, mutilated, killed and kidnapped 1200 civilians. These terrorists didn’t target the military, they killed children, concert goers, grandmothers, peace activists and a young British Columbian named Ben Mizrachi. The Jewish community was in shock.... I had offered to the Premier that as a member of the Jewish community, I could speak at a vigil that was being planned a few days after the massacre – this was my community and our two Premiers had tasked me with strengthening the NDP relationship with the community. I put out the call for you to join me.... Two maybe three responded – that’s it.... In the end there were 7 or 8 of us....
And then, within days of the massacre, Aman [Singh] and Katrina [Chen] decided that it was appropriate to ‘reply all’ to my initial email asking folks to stand with the Jewish community in grief and mourning.... We just witnessed the slaughter, rape, mutilation and murder of 1200 mostly Jews. We watched as the terrorists celebrated this horrific act. Ben Mizrachi hadn’t yet been buried. The IDF hadn’t yet taken any action. The world was stunned. And two of my colleagues wanted to move quickly past what had happened.... But it wasn’t their antisemitism that broke my heart. It was your silence to their antisemitism that hurt the most. Not a single one of you responded to their insensitive, disrespectful and inappropriate email.... Your silence ... spoke volumes to me and suggested that either you agreed with them or that you just didn’t want to deal with it....
How eager you all are to join in the #NeverAgain campaign – that the crime of being Jewish that resulted in the death of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazis should never happen again. That we should fight against Jew hatred – a hatred that repeats itself over and over and over again throughout history... – yet when the hordes gather and chant 'from the river to the sea' – a Hamas mantra referring to their desire to destroy Israel and the Jews, you are no where to be found.... Where are you when protesters, their faces covered, march through our campuses intimidating young Jewish adults who now hide their Jewish identity? Where are you when young Jewish students who get trapped in bathrooms on campus because the marching is happening in hallways, and they are afraid to step out into the hall for fear of becoming a target of their hate? Where are your ideals of a broad, inclusive society? How have you been standing up for your declared values?
Almost 300 Jewish physicians signed a letter calling on UBC medical school to address antisemitism on campus. Students are bringing their hate into healthcare and they were speaking on behalf of their Jewish patients and their families. In fact, it was so bad that Ted Rosenberg, a prominent physician quit, citing a toxic work environment and antisemitism in the Faculty of Medicine.... It was a public leaving and I heard nothing from any of you – not the Minister of Health who committed to more physicians in the system, not the Premier – no one.
In December the four Tri-Cities MLAs received a letter from the Coquitlam Teacher’s Association rife with rhetoric, misinformation and lies about the modern state of Israel. The letter was also posted on their website (which has since been taken down). Jewish parents in SD 43 are now considering pulling their children from public schools because they don’t have faith that teachers in the district will keep their Jewish children safe. I asked Fin [Donnelly] if he received the same letter. He did and when I asked him what he was planning to do with it he said, 'nothing – I am going to ignore it'....
In January the Vancouver Police Department publicly shared a startling report about the dramatic increase in antisemitic incidents since October 7. And what was government’s response to this report? Silence....
"I reached out to the Attorney General as the racism file is under her ministry ... at the end of January two months after she became the designated point of contact for a community that is experiencing a spike in antisemitism, a community that is grieving and fearful. It turns out that the community leadership hadn’t even heard from her.... Her response to my query was a response you would give the opposition. There was no acknowledgement of my personal connection to the community or how my contacts and relationships could be useful. There was no sense of understanding that this community is feeling threatened, that people are afraid, that antisemitism was on display in civil society, that Jewish parents don’t want to send their children to public school, that Jewish post secondary students are being terrorized on campus, that Jewish owned businesses need additional security, that holocaust survivors are reliving trauma, that plays with Israeli content that actually help to provide dialogue about the conflict are being silenced, that hundreds of Jewish physicians are calling on UBC leadership to address antisemitism on campus, that members of our own public service have started incorporating the Palestinian flag in their email signature and even making a Palestinian land comment when doing a First Nation land acknowledgement at the beginning of meetings resulting in discomfort and fear. No acknowledgment and no action.
Over the past five months a few of you have reached out after caucus discussions about me without me in the room, the first right after Aman and Katrina sent their emails and then again after the February caucus meeting, offering hugs and heart emojis. My response to many of you is that I don’t need your hugs and your emojis. What my community needs however is for you to stand up to antisemitism.... Antisemitism is calling for the destruction and annihilation of Israel where half the world’s 15.8 million Jews live. Antisemitism is making Jewish people afraid to show their identity. Antisemitism is silencing an openly identified Jewish person who is speaking out about anti-semitism....
Anti-semitism is the double standard that we have consistently shown. When any of my colleagues have made anti-semitic remarks it was expected that apologies should suffice.... When an elected person says something that harms the Jewish community whether the comments or position is intended or unintended, the expectation is that a simple apology is sufficient. But when a Jewish elected person says something she ‘has deep work to do’ according to the Premier and is no longer trusted. This double standard is antisemitism....
It is with all of this in mind that I am leaving caucus to sit as an independent. I can no longer defend the choices this government is making, and I need to mend my broken heart and I can’t do that when you simply offer me hugs and heart emojis but don’t care to educate yourselves or understand the fear and anguish of being Jewish in this moment. Silence is not leadership – it’s cowardice. And I cannot be silent.
Read full text of letter: https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/full-text-selina-robinson-resignation-letter-to-bc-ndp-caucus
No comments:
Post a Comment