MLA Selina Robinson has officially quit her position with the BC NDP in the Coquitlam-Maillardville electoral district choosing to finish her term as an independent.
This comes shortly after the Jewish MLA controversially made comments on the Israel-Palestine conflict, claiming Palestine was a “crappy piece of land with nothing on it” before Israel was established in Palestine.
Following this comment going viral, Robinson made headlines across the country and beyond due to her Islamophobic comments with federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh both Premier David Eby criticizing her rhetoric.
After two public apologies, Eby removed her from her position as Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, but did not remove her from the party.
Now, she has decided to quit the NDP and remain in the Legislative Assembly as an independent, citing anti-Semitism in the causus as her reason for leaving.
Robinson wrote a letter to her colleagues upon her exit from the party.
“You broke my heart,” Robinson began.
“Not just on February 5th 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.”
She continued by saying the choice to tender her resignation was based on the Premier’s advice, the caucus and the members of the public who called for her resignation.
Robinson said that in the days following the Hamas attack on innocent Israeli citizens, her heart was broken again.
According to her letter, she tried to speak at vigils for her community who were grieving and bring other members of her party along with her as a show of support, but in the end most of her colleagues were uninterested.
Then, she calls out two of her colleagues, Aman Singh and Katrina Chen for ‘replying all’ to an email she had written asking for her party to come to her aid. According to Robinson, these two wanted the government to make a statement of the situation, speaking about the “plight of the Palestinians.”
This claim has not been confirmed.
Robinson then goes on to explain that she is disappointed her colleagues have not made more of an effort to support BC’s Jewish community in their grief which correlates back to the horrors experienced during the Holocaust.
However, she also makes unfounded claims that the pro-Palestine are using scare tactics during their peace marches to intimidate Jewish people.
In Victoria, no violence has been perpetuated from the pro-Palestinian groups who march every weekend; however, a man attempted to hit one of these peaceful protesters with his vehicle while shouting Islamophobic comments at the group.
It is also important to note that several of those leading the pro-Palestinain marches are Jewish people who want the violence in Palestine to cease.
Related:
‘I will do better’: BC NDP’s Selina Robinson issues two apologies for Islamophobic comments
Selina Robinson stepping down as minister but plans to finish current term in office
She continues her letter by listing a handful of situations in which her colleagues in the NDP displayed behaviour she calls anti-Semitic, in all of those cases an apology sufficed as a solution.
Robinson said after three and a half pages of calling out her party for anti-Semitic comments and rhetoric that the last straw came for her last week.
She says that she pitched the idea of having leaders from both sides within BC come together and talk about potential peaceful actions that can be taken.
“I suggested that perhaps I could work with the Jewish community and engage with the Arab Muslim community to facilitate dialogue—find a different path for two communities in agony,” Robinson wrote.
“As part of that work, all of caucus could participate in anti-Islamophobia and antisemitism training—set an example of how as leaders we could better understand their respective pain and fear.”
After she pitched the idea, she says it was shot down for being “too political.”
“This shattered what was left of my broken heart,” she concluded.
It is important to note that after her Islamophobic comments which got her removed from her ministry position, she makes no mention of the genocide of the Palestinian people at the hands of Israel, which is ongoing and has taken now taken the lives of over 30,000 people—many of whom are women and children.
Following Robinson’s announcement, Premier Eby has been facing backlash from the BC United Party and the Conservative Party of British Columbia, who both are calling for his resignation.
Eby came out with a statement after Robinson announced her departure from the party saying he was saddened to see her make this decision, but she was clearly carrying a lot of pain.
“Selina made a mistake,and she was doing the work to address the harm she had caused,” Eby said.
“I wish she had brought her concerns to me directly so we could have worked through them together.”
He says he will continue to work to bring communities together and he condemns all hatred, including anti-Semitism.
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