Canada’s Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) in Winnipeg is embroiled in controversy over plans to open a major exhibit titled “Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present” on June 27. The controversy exists on multiple fronts, including that the exhibit is not historically accurate, does not meet Canada’s own standards (yet is federally funded), is one-sided, risks inciting antisemitism, and undermines the museum’s own mandate.

Rev. Don James is the CEO of Bridges for Peace Canada. He’s not Jewish but is very close to the Jewish community in Winnipeg, where the epicenter of the controversy and the CMHR are based. Personally, and representing Bridges for Peace, which has more than half a century of leadership in building bridges among Christians in support of Israel, James is also close to Israel and the broader Jewish community. He is also an ardent Zionist, highlighting the very offense of the museum not just to Jews, but also threats to Zionists broadly, as dangerous for all.

James explains the genesis of the controversy about the exhibit, noting that “pro-Palestinian” activists in Manitoba had long pressured the museum to present content focused on the “Nakba,” the Arabic term for “catastrophe” used to describe the events surrounding Israel’s 1948 War of Independence and, specifically, the very existence of the State of Israel for which Palestinian Arabs and their supporters view as the original sin.

Accusations against the CMHR and the exhibit are not conjecture. The museum’s own website blurs lines that erase historical truth and refer not only to past grievances from 1948 but “human rights violations related to the ongoing forced displacement and dispossession of Palestinians… (and) Palestinian Canadians reflecting on their ongoing struggle for justice and human rights. Together with art, photos, and text, these elements reveal enduring patterns of loss and resistance. For Palestinians, the Nakba is both their history and their present — it is an ongoing process shaping every aspect of life........

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