The New Democratic Party is without a candidate in Kings-Hants after Morgan Wheeldon handed in his resignation Sunday over an anti-Israel Facebook comment.

By Monday, Wheeldon’s name had been removed as a candidate from the party’s official site and his campaign website reduced to a blank white page.

The comment in question, since deleted from Wheeldon’s personal Facebook page, was featured on the Conservative party attack website meetthendp.com .

Posted in August 2014 amid the Israel-Gaza conflict, it read, in part:

“One could argue that Israel’s intention was always to ethnically cleanse the region — there are direct quotations proving this to be the case. Guess we just sweep that under the rug. A minority of Palestinians are bombing buses in response to what appears to be a calculated effort to commit a war crime.”

Brad Lavigne, NDP senior campaign adviser, confirmed in a statement Monday that Wheeldon resigned as a candidate after he was approached by the party about the post.

“Our position on the conflict in the Middle East is clear, as Tom Mulcair expressed clearly in the debate,” Lavigne said.

“Mr. Wheeldon’s comments are not in line with that policy and he is no longer our candidate.”

Wheeldon was set to run against Liberal incumbent Scott Brison and Conservative candidate David Morse in the October federal election. He won the NDP nomination in February and had been attending events and knocking on doors in the riding even in advance of the election call.

His campaign leaflet notes he has done advocacy work for War Child Canada, and has been an office holder at the local and provincial levels of the NDP.

Judy Swift, president of the NDP’s riding association in Kings-Hants, told The Chronicle Herald on Monday that she was not commenting on the matter at this time.

At least one NDP member offered his support for Wheeldon on social media Sunday night.

“I am a proud Jewish member of the #NDP and I’ve spoken to @MorganWheeldon many times. This is a Harper smear,” a Tweet from Brian Appel (@BJSparkles) read.

Wheeldon responded via Twitter, saying he was “disappointed in Canadian democracy” but remains hopeful.

 

 

Wheeldon may not be the first NDP candidate barred from running because of a stance on Israel. On Friday, Clyde River Mayor Jerry Natanine posted on Facebook that the NDP had rejected his bid to carry their banner in Nunavut in the fall election. A CBC reporter tweeted quotes from Natanine on Monday suggesting he believes his rejection was, in part, due to his social media posts siding with Palestine.

 

 

 

Jon Goldberg, executive director of the Atlantic Jewish Council, said he personally thinks Wheeldon’s comments were anti-Semitic, as well as anti-Israel.

“We’re quite pleased that when the statements and the opinions of this candidate were brought to the NDP leadership that they acted effectively and immediately to rectify the situation,” Goldberg said.

The website that featured the Israel comments also highlighted another post by Wheeldon from 2011 that called Canada a country of “self interest and cheap-outs.”

This isn’t the first time a politician’s social media history has landed them in hot water. Newly elected Alberta NDP MLA Deborah Drever was suspended from caucus in May over a homophobic Instagram post.

Wheeldon could not be reached for comment Monday.