Canadian Museum for Human Rights has become 'tool' of one side of the Arab-Israeli story: David Asper

A newly announced permanent exhibit at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg is being met with heightened concern from Jewish groups.

“The Museum has allowed itself to become the tool, or dupe, of only one side of the story and thereby betrays its duty as a national institution to provide a common and inclusive meeting and educational space on the matter of human rights,” says Winnipeg lawyer, businessman and trustee at the Asper Foundation, David Asper, whose family led the museum’s founding in 2014.

Entitled “Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present,” it is set to open in June 2026 focusing on the experiences of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and the creation of Israel.

According to the United Nations , “Nakba” means “catastrophe” in Arabic and “refers to the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war … In November 1947, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution partitioning Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab … The Arab world rejected the plan, arguing that it was unfair and violated the UN Charter.”

Criticism has emerged from several Canadian Jewish organizations about the exhibit, arguing it risks presenting a one-sided or “politicized” version of events that could contribute to the delegitimization of Israeli statehood and potentially fuel antisemitism.

“The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has rightly earned an international reputation for its rigorous consultation processes that bring together subject-matter experts, affected communities, and individuals with lived experience to fulfill its mandate to ‘contribute to the collective memory and sense of identity of all Canadians’,” says the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs vice president in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Gustavo Zentner.

When the CIJA learned about the museum’s intention to profile the experiences of refugees from the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, “we immediately engaged with the Museum’s leadership,” he says. “We offered to convene leading experts to help ensure that any exhibit presents a balanced, fact-based, and comprehensive narrative, one that reflects the experiences of all refugees, including the more than 850,000 Jews forcibly displaced from long-established communities across the Middle East and North Africa.”

The Jewish community was not consulted, he adds.

“As currently framed, the proposed direction will deliver an incomplete and unbalanced narrative, one that omits Jewish refugee experiences entirely and will carry reputational consequences for the Museum. To ensure the Museum fulfills its mandate, we have requested information from its leadership about the exhibit’s content, framing, objectives, and development process, before any further steps are taken. We are actively working with our community and with partner institutions across Canada to demand accountability.”

CIJA Calls for Accountability in CMHR’s Proposed ExhibitCIJA's @GustavoZentner , Vice President, Manitoba and Saskatchewan issued the following statement: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has rightly earned an international reputation for its rigorous consultation…

— CIJA (@CIJAinfo) November 20, 2025

Meanwhile, the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada is moving to suspend its partnership with the museum since learning about the exhibit.

The JHCWC says it is “tremendously concerned” the exhibit may exclude the long history of Jewish displacement, events leading up to Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, and the expulsion of Jews from Arab countries in the mid-20th century.

The JHCWC also expressed concern the exhibit could overlook non-Jewish minorities who are Israeli citizen, including Muslim and Christian Arabs, Druze, Circassians and Samaritans – people who hold positions in the judiciary, parliament, health care and the military, and that their equal rights under Israeli law complicate common interpretations of the Nakba.

The centre notes previous exhibitions — including the Holocaust gallery — were organized with extensive consultation.

“I think what you’re seeing with the Jewish Heritage Centre is the manifestation of a fundamental breach of trust by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights,” says David Asper. “The factual, historical context of events surrounding the ‘Nakba’ are not just one story. In my father’s founding vision of the purpose of the Museum he never had a problem with the telling of the whole story, which includes the displacement and expulsion of over 800,000 Jews who were living in Arab countries and, perhaps most importantly, that a lot of what happened was triggered by the fact that many Arab countries declared war and tried to conquer and eliminate Israel in 1948.”

The JHCWC is withdrawing from the International Holocaust Remembrance Day event on Jan. 27, which it had been coordinating with the CMHR. However, it remains willing to meet with the CMHR and hopes the museum will reevaluate its plans.

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