[4] On August 20, 2014, Hassainia announced she was leaving the NDP and will sit as an Independent due to Mulcair's "excessively pro-Israel stance on the current conflict in Gaza and demeaning party demands to toe the line."

Hassainia claimed that she was "punished" for supporting Brian Topp (who previously challenged Mulcair for the party's leaderships) by being removed from her position with Commons committee on the Status of Women.

'"[6] However, according to the Canadian Press, sources within the NDP subsequently claimed that Hassainia had never expressed concerns with the party's position towards the Israel/Palestine conflict prior to her announcement and accused her of "simply looking for an excuse to cover the fact that she rarely shows up for work."

The National Post noted that Hassainia participated in only 8.7% of votes in the House of Commons for the first seven months of 2014, which meant that she had the lowest attendance record of any MP during this period.

Mulcair stated that the NDP's policy for supporting the Two-State Solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict remains unchanged from when Jack Layton was leader, while adding that "in her note, [Hassainia] made it clear that she doesn't agree with that.