A new permanent exhibit at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg is drawing significant concern from Jewish organizations. The exhibit, titled "Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present," is scheduled to open in June 2026. It will focus on the experiences of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the establishment of Israel.

David Asper, a Winnipeg lawyer and trustee at the Asper Foundation, expressed his discontent, stating, "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." Asper's family played a key role in founding the museum in 2014.

The term "Nakba," which means "catastrophe" in Arabic, refers to the mass displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 conflict. The United Nations had previously passed a resolution in November 1947 to partition Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, a plan that was rejected by the Arab nations.

Several Canadian Jewish organizations have criticized the upcoming exhibit, arguing it risks presenting a one-sided narrative that could undermine the legitimacy of Israeli statehood and potentially incite antisemitism. Gustavo Zentner, vice president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, stated, "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.’"

Zentner noted that when the CIJA learned about the museum's plans to highlight the experiences of refugees from the 1948 war, they immediately reached out to the museum's leadership. "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," he said.

He added that the Jewish community was not consulted in the planning process. "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," he said. The CIJA has requested information from the museum regarding the exhibit's content and development process before any further steps are taken.

In response to the exhibit, the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada announced it would suspend its partnership with the museum. The JHCWC expressed deep concern that the exhibit may overlook the long history of Jewish displacement, including 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 raised concerns that the exhibit might neglect the experiences of non-Jewish minorities who are Israeli citizens, such as Muslim and Christian Arabs, Druze, Circassians, and Samaritans. These groups hold various positions in Israeli society, including in the judiciary and military, and their rights under Israeli law complicate common interpretations of the Nakba.

David Asper remarked on the situation, stating, "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. The factual, historical context of events surrounding the ‘Nakba’ are not just one story."

The JHCWC has decided to withdraw from the International Holocaust Remembrance Day event scheduled for January 27, which it had been coordinating with the museum. However, the center remains open to discussions with the museum and hopes it will reconsider its plans for the exhibit.