Doug Ford served cease-and-desist letter by NDP MPP Sarah Jama

Ontario MPP Sarah Jama has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Premier Doug Ford over what she is calling "defamatory" remarks that accuse her of having a history of antisemitism.

The letter was sent to the Premier’s Office on Thursday, according to a lawyer representing Jama, and demands the premier retract the posts and publicly apologize within seven days.

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On Oct. 11, Ford posted a statement on social media that called for the Hamilton-Centre MPP’s resignation.

He cited comments Jama made a day earlier about the Israel-Gaza conflict and said that she has a “long and well-documented history of antisemitism.”

The premier also said that Jama supported “the rape and murder of innocent Jewish people.”

Ford’s statement has been viewed more than 1.5 million times on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The cease-and-desist letter says the public comments have done serious harm to Jama’s reputation and imply that she is racist towards Jewish people and sympathetic to terrorism.

Jama is about to be censured by the Progressive Conservative government over statements she made on social media that called for the end of “all occupation of Palestinian land,” as well as an end to the “apartheid” in the region.

The statement did not originally mention the Hamas attack that occurred a few days prior, which resulted in thousands of deaths and the kidnapping of Israeli citizens.

The following day, Jama apologized and condemned the “terrorism by Hamas” while also noting that she believes that “Israel’s bombardment and siege on civilians in Gaza, as was also noted by the United Nations, is wrong.”

The Ford government put forward a motion Monday that asks the House Speaker not to recognize Jama in the house until she retracts and deletes her statement. Instead, the NDP MPP pinned her statement to the top of her X feed.

Debate on the motion began on Wednesday and continued Thursday, with similar accusations being thrown around the legislature.

Multiple Progressive Conservative MPPs, including Government House Leader Paul Calandra, have called Jama an antisemite in their statements, alleging she is endorsing terrorism against Jewish people.

Jama has been absent from Queen’s Park all week. The NDP say she is spending time with her family.

This is now a legal matter, and as such cannot comment further, though I will call out this government for repeatedly and cynically fanning the flames of division during such a painful time,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said in a statement.

MPPs are expected to vote on Jama’s censure on Monday. A separate motion condemning the Hamas attacks passed on Thursday after days of debate.