The 'Nakba' exhibit is a disinformation campaign. The Canadian Museum of Human Rights ignores why Palestinians were displaced -- Irwin Cotler

[Sid Shniad]

Zionist propaganda attack on the CMHR Nakba exhibit from Canada's leading human rights advocate [sic].

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/opinion-4

National Post                                                                                                                                                                                                 July 8, 2026

The 'Nakba' exhibit is a disinformation campaign

The Canadian Museum of Human Rights ignores why Palestinians were displaced

By Irwin Cotler and Joe Oliver, Special to National Post


The Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. Photo by Adobe Stock

The forced deportation of Jews from Arab countries and the wartime exodus of Arabs from Israel in 1947-1948 is a painful story with competing narratives, so it is important to accurately present the historical record. That includes the “Nakba,” Arabic for catastrophe, which originally referred to the defeat of Arab armies by Israel but now relates to the plight of Palestinian refugees. Unfortunately, the Palestine Uprooted exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg demonstrates how a one-sided portrayal that advances an anti-Zionist political agenda can exacerbate burgeoning antisemitism and undermine the safety of the Canadian Jewish community. After visiting the museum, Culture Minister Marc Miller called it an “error in curation” and said it “should be rectified.”

Historical accuracy, contextual integrity, balance and informed scholarship should frame the discussion about this contentious period. Furthermore, commentary should reflect Canadian values and encourage inter-communal reconciliation. Above all, misinformation and disinformation must not be used to propagandize a political, ideological, theological or partisan agenda.

We should acknowledge Palestinian suffering, but it is also necessary to understand who caused it and who is perpetrating it and why. People are entitled to talk about ‘my catastrophe’ but they cannot selectively talk about ‘my truth.’

Prior to Israel’s independence, incoming prime minister David Ben-Gurion urged Arabs to stay. His comments were consistent with Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which called on the Arab inhabitants to “participate in the building of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship.” Nevertheless, up to 750,000 fled, in part, at the urging of Arab leaders and fear of war, with the promise that they could return as soon as Israel was defeated. Tens of thousands may have been forcibly evicted. That evacuation would not have occurred had five Arab countries not declared war on Israel and then attacked it.

Yet 150,000 Arabs remained after the war and their descendants today constitute a Palestinian minority of over two million Israeli citizens. That contrasts dramatically with 3,500-4,000 Jews currently living in Arab countries. There is also a beleaguered minority of roughly 8,000 Jews still living in Iran, down from 150,000. The reasons for their disappearance from countries they had lived in for two millennia is that 950,000 were persecuted, some tortured and imprisoned and nearly all driven out, starting when the UN Partition Plan was adopted in 1947.

So Jews also suffered a “Nakba,” which the United Nations General Assembly never recognized. Furthermore, neither catastrophe was caused by the creation of the State of Israel, but rather by Arab hostility to its creation.

Moreover, the Palestinian refugee problem resulted directly from the refusal of Arab countries to integrate fellow Arabs who had fled Israel. These countries cynically prolonged their plight as a propaganda weapon against the “Zionist entity.” Their indifference was precisely the opposite of Israel’s ingathering of 3.3 million Jews from 150 countries, including Holocaust survivors from Europe, the Soviet Union/Russia, imperilled refugees from Ethiopia, and refugees from Arab countries.

The long-standing hostility, terrorism and periodic wars of Israel’s enemies, including Iranian proxies, resulted in death and destruction for Israelis and kept Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza vulnerable and unable to achieve the security and prosperity that an enduring peace would provide. In spite of manipulation by its supposed supporters, no group’s refusal to recognize Israel has been more intense than that of the Palestinian leaders, with tragic consequences. It is instructive to look at Gaza, from which Israel totally withdrew in 2005. Billions of dollars in foreign aid were diverted to build death tunnels or stolen by corrupt leaders who orchestrated rocket bombardments by Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel and ultimately led to the genocidal atrocities of October 7 and abduction of hostages.

On numerous occasions, Israel was prepared to sign a peace agreement with the Palestinian authorities but was repeatedly rejected. Following the failed Camp David Summit in 2000, president Bill Clinton proposed parameters under which the Palestinians would receive approximately 95 per cent of the West Bank, together with Israeli land swaps, but the negotiations ultimately failed. Clinton later laid the blame squarely on Yasser Arafat, calling it “a historic missed opportunity.” The latest failed attempt was the 2020 Trump Plan.

An expansion of the Abraham Accords between Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and Kazakhstan to include Saudi Arabia and Oman could lead to peace and prosperity in the Middle East, including for the Palestinians. If the fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran holds, a very big if, then that has a chance. However, an enduring peace with the Palestinians is unachievable unless their leadership abandons its unrelenting rejection of the Jewish state. Until then, their Nakba will tragically continue.

Irwin Cotler was the minister of justice in the Paul Martin government and first special envoy on Holocaust remembrance and antisemitism. Joe Oliver was the minister of natural resources and finance in the Stephen Harper government.