Saima Harron’s November 17 column in The Gauntlet, a student newspaper at the University of Calgary titled: “Canadian leadership should be ashamed of Sarah Jama’s censure,” took issue with the widespread condemnation faced by Ontario MPP Sarah Jama following her anti-Israel comments in October following Hamas’ terror massacre in Israel.

On October 10, Jama posted on X (formerly Twitter) a statement where she accused Israel of being an apartheid state engaging in “settler colonialism” for the last 75 years (ie. since Israel’s independence in 1948).

Harron argued that a violation of freedom of expression was committed by the Ontario NDP’s decision to remove MPP Sarah Jama from their caucus over her disregard of party conduct policies, and by the Ontario government’s subsequent decision to censure her over inflammatory and extremist comments regarding the Israel-Hamas war.

Harron claimed that the reason Jama has faced these consequences is because she was “ahead of the world” in calling for a ceasefire. Elsewhere, she characterized Jama’s offending behavior as merely “criticizing the state of Israel” and “defence of civilian life.”

The main statement that got Jama in trouble saw her engage in blatant historical revisionism, slanderous demonization of Israel’s very existence, unsubstantiated conspiracy theories, and rhetoric involving common antisemitic tropes. Worst of all, Jama unconscionably denied Israel’s right to even respond to the October 7th Hamas massacre or attempt to rescue its hostages, by demanding an unequivocal ceasefire immediately following Hamas’ massive terrorist attack against thousands of innocent Israeli civilians and foreign nationals.

According to CP24, Jama also totally neglected to make any mention of the Hamas massacre in her initial comment on the situation, instead solely voicing support for ending “all occupation of Palestinian land” and posting the hashtag “Free Palestine”—even at the very moment when the civilized world was still reacting in shock and horror, barely yet having begun to process these barbaric atrocities of historic proportions.

Moreover, Jama’s behavior since the censure vote has only gotten worse. In recent weeks, she signed her name to a disturbing letter which baselessly denied that Israeli women were raped and sexually abused by Hamas terrorists during the October 7th massacres. For the record, there are countless eyewitness accounts attesting to such crimes, multiple formal police investigations on the ground, multiple forensic reports detailing clear signs of sexual abuse, and widely available video footage of female victims bleeding from their genital area and being non-consensually stripped and molested by violent mobs. Jama subsequently removed her name from this letter.

In what world can a party claiming to be defenders of women’s rights associate with a person who would deny and silence these victims purely to score cheap and disingenuous political points? This is not only a matter of hatred and disrespect—it’s a matter of dishonesty and flagrant disregard for the truth.

Is any of this behaviour befitting of a Canadian public official? In what field would someone not be fired for voicing this level of extremism, let alone in a position of government authority?

None of these were isolated incidents, as public warnings about Jama’s history of extremist anti-Israel activities and associations with known antisemitic movements and organizations go back to before her time in office.

Yet, somehow, Harron didn’t find any of this relevant to mention in analyzing the decision to discipline Jama. Instead, Harron bizarrely focused on listing a disjointed, cherrypicked list of seemingly random individuals and organizations who call for a ceasefire today, in an attempt to paint Jama as a sort of prophet who saw the “truth” before everyone else and whose validity was therefore somehow vindicated.

Unless Harron believes that Israel-hating extremists have some kind of unique right to do and say whatever they want at all times without facing any of the normal consequences, the response to Jama’s inappropriate conduct is by no means an affront to free speech. On the contrary, it’s a legitimate and welcome defense of the integrity of Ontario’s institutions and leadership. 

Sarah Jama has the freedom to express her opinion. But that does not shield her from the consequences of those words.