NDP deputy leader Libby Davies is in trouble with her own caucus over comments she made at an anti-Israeli protest when she appeared to question the Jewish state’s right to exist, while also suggesting that she believes it should face a boycott and sanctions.

The remarks, made in Vancouver this month and captured on a video now circulating on the Internet, have provoked a backlash among members of the NDP caucus, including leader Jack Layton — who quickly distanced himself from Ms. Davies.

“I have spoken to the [Israeli] ambassador [to Canada], to indicate very clearly that those comments were not the position of our party and Ms. Davies has sent a letter indicating that she made a very serious mistake,” Mr. Layton said. “I told her it was a serious mistake.”

The video shows Ms. Davies answering a series of questions about the situation in the Middle East, starting with comments suggesting that Israel has been occupying territories since 1948, the year of its independence.

“[The occupation started in] ’48. It’s the longest occupation in the world,” she said in the video. “People are suffering. I’ve been to the West Bank and Gaza twice, so I see what’s going on.”

Ms. Davies also expressed her support for an international campaign for a boycott, divestmentandsanctions against Israel, breaking ranks with her party’s official position.

Thomas Mulcair, the NDP’s other deputy leader, said he found the video online last week and “was very quick to point it out” to some of his colleagues to clarify the party’s support of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.

“No member of our caucus, whatever other title they have, is allowed to invent their own policy,” said Mr. Mulcair. “We take decisions together, parties formulate policies together, and to say that you’re personally in favour of boycott, divestment and sanctions for the only democracy in the Middle East is, as far as I’m concerned, grossly unacceptable.”

In a letter to the Ottawa Citizen, which published an editorial last week criticizing Ms. Davies’ comments, the Vancouver-area MP apologized for causing “confusion.”

“My reference to the year 1948 as the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory was a serious and completely inadvertent error,” she wrote. “I have always supported a two-state solution to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and have never questioned Israel’s right to exist and the Palestinian’s right to a viable state.”