The Green Party, it is well known, throbs with love for the planet, the trees and every thing that creepeth upon the earth.
More particularly, while the party is the first to proselytize for what we used to call the brotherhood of man, a sizable number of its members seem to hold decidedly unphiladelphic attitudes toward their fellow humans.
For instance, Jews.
But whatever misgivings the Greens may have about people, or certain peoples, they are as nothing compared with the special loathing they reserve for each other.
It all started with last month’s outbreak of fighting in the Middle East: Hamas’s rocket attacks on Israel, and Israel’s counterattacks on Hamas’s strongholds in Gaza.
Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin tweeted that there were “no two sides to this conflict, only human rights abuses” by Israel.
Political staffers do not, as a rule, publicly threaten to defenestrate members of their own party, with or without the multiple exclamation points.
Unable to abide either the heavy hand of the leader or the policy behind it, Ms. Atwin decamped last week for, of all places, the Liberal Party.
“Israelis are also suffering as well as their loved ones in Canada and around the world.
As for the Liberals, having earlier in the week recruited an MP who was too hostile to Israel even for the Greens, the party closed the week by announcing it would convene an emergency summit on antisemitism.
At any rate, rather than “bowing down” or “being brought to heel,” as she put it, Ms. Paul counterattacked, calling her critics within the party “racist” and “sexist.” It is not impossible that this could be the case, even within the exquisitely sensitive preserve of the Green Party.
“It’s very hard not to see this process through the lens of race, gender and religion,” Sean Yo, an organizer for Ms. Paul, told the Toronto Star in April.
But it’s also the case that accusations of racism and sexism sting the most, and are therefore most effective, when deployed against those most anxious to avoid such labels.
Ms. May was last seen talking up an attempt to persuade Ms. Atwin to return to the party, even as other party members were talking about recruiting her to replace Ms. Paul.