Selina Robinson receives death threats over inaccurate Israel comments

B.C. Premier David Eby says police are investigating a death threat directed at MLA Selina Robinson.

The threat comes shortly after she resigned from cabinet over inflammatory and inaccurate comments about the history of Israel that she made in a panel hosted by Jewish Organization B’nai Brith on Jan. 30.

In a post on X, Eby says there’s never any excuse for hatred and violence.

“Hatred and violence are completely unacceptable in B.C.,” he said. “There is no excuse, ever.”

In the panel, Robinson claimed that before Israel was settled by the modern population, it was just a “crappy piece of land with nothing on it.”

“There were, you know, several hundred thousand people but other than that, it didn’t produce an economy,” she said. “It couldn’t grow things. It didn’t have anything on it.”

SFU professor and Middle East expert Adel Iskandar called her comments factually wrong, noting the region’s history of human civilization and agriculture.

Robinson stepped down as the B.C. minister for post-secondary education and future skills Monday. That same day, her constituency office was vandalized.

She remains in the BC NDP caucus, serving as the MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville until the end of her term.

In his social media post, Eby says Robinson is safe.