The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a national institution entrusted to promote truth, fairness, and moral clarity, is preparing to host an exhibit titled “Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present” (scheduled to open in June 2026). We are deeply concerned that, as currently described, this exhibit will present a partisan, one-sided narrative that:

• Rewrites complex history into a simplistic story of Palestinian victimhood and Israeli villainy.
• Erases Jewish indigeneity and the Jewish experience of 1948, including Jewish refugees and the context of repeated Arab rejections of peace.
• Omits decades of terrorism against Israeli civilians and Israel’s legitimate right, like every nation’s, to exist and defend itself.
• Presents “ongoing forced displacement and dispossession” as the only correct framing, rather than one perspective among many that require historical context and nuance.
• Risks normalizing hostility toward Jews and Israelis and further fueling the wave of antisemitism already rising across Canada, harassment on campuses, vandalism, economic pressure on businesses, weekly hate marches, and intimidation of community members.

A national museum must not become a vehicle for propaganda or partisan advocacy. An institution dedicated to human rights should educate, illuminate multiple perspectives, and protect vulnerable communities, not amplify a weaponized narrative that delegitimizes and endangers Israeli and Jewish Canadians.

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We ask the CMHR and its board to:

1. Suspend immediate plans to open the exhibit as currently framed until an independent, scholarly, and non-partisan review is completed.
2. Commission an independent review panel that includes recognized historians, human-rights scholars, and representatives from diverse communities, including Jewish historians and organizations, to evaluate historical accuracy, balance, and compliance with the museum’s mandate.
3. Ensure full transparency about the exhibit’s curators, funders, partners, and the sources used to develop the content.
4. Require the exhibit to include multiple, contextualized perspectives, including: Jewish narratives of 1948 (including Jewish refugees), documented peace offers and rejections, the history of terrorism against civilians, and the broader regional context that shaped events.
5. Develop clear safeguards and educational materials to prevent the exhibit from encouraging hate, intimidation, or harassment against Jewish Canadians or any other group.
6. Hold meaningful consultations with affected communities, Jewish, Palestinian, academic, and civic, and publish a summary of how community input is reflected in the final exhibit.

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Why your signature matters

When national cultural institutions adopt one-sided stories, they give social and moral permission for extremists to intensify targeting of entire communities. This exhibit, if left unchecked, risks stoking resentment, stigmatizing Jewish Canadians, and further emboldening antisemitism.

We believe in genuine human rights education, one that is rigorous, fair, and grounded in facts and context. The CMHR should be a place that protects human dignity for all, not a platform for politicized narratives that inflame divisions.

Sign now to demand an independent review, balanced representation, and meaningful consultation before any Nakba exhibit moves forward.