Khader Adnan controversy

In May 2023, Jama retweeted a post about the death of Palestinian prisoner and hunger-striker Khader Adnan, a former spokesperson for of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which is listed as a terrorist entity in Canada.^[32] The post called him a "martyr for freedom".^[33][32] Both B’nai Brith Canada and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs criticized Jama for sharing the post, B'nai Brith saying he was a convicted terrorist.^[32] Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East stated that Jama was being "unfairly attacked" for retweeting the statement and noted "It would be wrong for the ONDP [Ontario NDP] to punish their MPP for drawing attention to a powerful example of non-violent struggle against Israeli apartheid".^[32]

Censure by the Legislature

On 10 October 2023, two days after the 2023 Israel–Hamas war began, Jama generated controversy for posting a statement under Ontario NDP letterhead referring to "apartheid" and describing "continued violation of human rights in Gaza" by Israel.^{[34][35][36][37]} She also called for the "end [of] all occupation of Palestinian land and end [of] apartheid" and offered her sympathies to people mourning on both sides.^[38]

Her statement was criticized by Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles, and prompted Ontario Liberal leader John Fraser, Premier Doug Ford, and Jewish organizations such as Holocaust education group Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs to call for her resignation from caucus.^[38] Ford also publicly stated that Jama had a "long and well-documented history of antisemitism" and "hateful views", and that she "publicly support[ed] the rape and murder of innocent Jewish people", and called for her to resign.^[39][37][40] In response to Ford's statement, Jama served Ford's office a cease and desist letter and threatened to sue him for libel.^[37] Although Jama released her statements under NDP letterhead, the party was not made aware of the pending statement, and had not endorsed Jama's positions.^[41] Stiles privately met with Jama asking her to remove the statement and apologize; Jama subsequently apologized for her posts in a reply to them about 24 hours later on Twitter, but refused to remove the statements and instead pinned her statement to the top of her feed on X.^[41][35][42]

On 23 October 2023, the legislature voted 63-23 to censure Jama in response to her comments. The NDP voted against the censure, with Stiles noting that it was an "extreme motion" and that "We do not believe the government should use its majority to strip a member of their right to speak and vote. This is an extreme step that will disenfranchise the voters of Hamilton Centre".^[5] As a result, she is banned from speaking in the chamber until and unless she retracts and deletes her original statement and formally apologizes.^[43][35]

Removal from the NDP caucus

On the day of the censure vote, Jama was removed from the NDP caucus.^[44] In an official party statement, Stiles noted that Jama had been uncooperative with NDP colleagues, making unilateral decisions without party endorsement and endangering the work environment of NDP staff, and had broken the terms of an agreement Stiles had made with Jama, which would have kept her affiliated with the party following Jama's statements on the Israel–Hamas war.^[41][43] Officials said that staff had worked with Jama on a statement, but it differed from what she said instead publicly in the moments preceding her expulsion. She also had not informed the party about her intention to threaten the Premier with legal action.^[45]

In November 2023, Jama signed an open letter denying that Israeli women were subjected to rape and sexual violence during 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.^{[46][47][48][49]} On November 21, her office stated that Jama had removed her name from the letter.^[50]

2023 Hamilton Centre provincial by-election