Exhibit to Feature Anti-Israel Narratives
Story submitted by Bill Narvy, Winnipeg, Manitoba
On December 10, 2023 pro-Hamas-Palestinian-anti-Israel protesters gathered outside and then stormed into the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Manitoba to call attention to the human rights crisis in Gaza during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The rally was organized by several support and solidarity groups, including Queers for Palestine, Peace Alliance and Ramsay Zeid, president of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba.
This protest at CMHR is also reported here:
The demonstrators reportedly accused Israel of undefined human rights violations against Palestinians including speaking of the alleged numbers of so called innocent Palestinians maimed or killed by Israel’s counter offensive. Hamas’ numbers of Gazan Palestinians maimed or killed do not differentiate between Gazan non-combatant Palestinians and Hamas terrorists, nor acknowledge civilians killed by terrorist misfired rockets.
Furthermore, these protesters ignore that any non-combatant Gazan Palestinians who are victims in this war are solely on Hamas’ head for it was Hamas’ that carried out a massacre on October 7th, an unprovoked barbaric attack against 1,200 innocent Israelis and foreign nationals, and took over 200 innocents hostage. Hamas routinely commits against humanity by using non-combatant Palestinians as human shields.
The use of human shields, preferably dead or injured non-combatant, especially women and children is a propaganda tool that the UN and the world soon ignores as they call on Israel to end their counter-offensive before Hamas is destroyed, which of course would hand Hamas a victory and Israel a defeat.
Hamas’ word is worthless, except when Hamas promises to launch more attacks on innocent Israelis akin to October 7th -- believe them!
The demonstrators were reported to have “..called on the CMHR to include stories of Palestinians in their exhibits, and demanded the museum recognize the human rights of Palestinians, including the right of return as well as the Nakba, the violent displacement and dispossession of Palestinians in 1948.”
The Nakba is an Arab word describing the defeat of 5 Arab armies which illegally attacked the nascent Jewish state. The loss was not a genocide, was not an Israel initiated war, and did not include ethnic cleansing of Arabs who fled on orders from their own leaders who promised to wipe out the Jews, then direct Arabs to return. Noting that Palstinian Arabs remained in large numbers in Israel, and are 21% of the population today, clearly demonstrates there was no ethnic cleansing.
Troublingly, the piece that laid out the views and accusations of the protesters also reported: “In a statement to the Winnipeg Sun, Matthew Cutler, CMHR Vice President of Exhibitions, said the museum has been working with the Palestinian-Canadian community to develop new gallery content that will help Canadians “better understand the human rights violations Palestinians experience every day”, including oral history interviews with Palestinian-Canadians and scholarly research that will inform the content currently being developed.
“This is a commitment we made long before the start of the Israel-Hamas War, and it will continue long after this current conflict ends,” said Cutler in an email. “Our galleries will never be able to capture every element and experience of human rights. We are thankful for upstanders, protesters, educators and others who, like in today’s protest, add context, perspectives and stories to complement what we are able to offer in our galleries.”
Being in a position of responsibility with the CMHR, Cutler’s saying that Palestinians experience human rights violations every day without context or definition, gives credence to the Palestinian propaganda lies and accusations against Israel and Jews which includes incessant accusations of Israelis/Jews violating Palestinian human rights. There is zero evidence of this claim and the alternate, affording Palestinian Arabs full rights within Israel is the case, whereas Jews have zero rights within any area under the control of the Palestinian Authority and completely evacuated Gaza in 2005.
Recall that Izzie Asper, founder and major funder of the CMHR wanted to feature the Holocaust to illustrate, explain and teach attendees about the evils of racism/bigotry and not just that against Jews. The Federal government moved to make the CMHR a national federal museum, giving a number of racial/ethnic/religious groups gallery space for exhibits to tell their own stories of how they too were victims of racism/bigotry and how they suffered.
It appears, given the national mandate of CMHR and Cutler’s words, that soon the CMHR will establish a Palestinian exhibit. Barring convincing evidence to the contrary, one can assume such gallery exhibits will prominently feature typical anti-Israel-antisemitic propaganda lies, false accusations, and revisionist histories that echo those of Mahmood Abbas’ Fatah/PA/PLO.
CAEF urges opponents to the idea that History can be rewritten to demonize Israel, negate truth, and mislead generations of students and the general public, must write to:
Isha Khan, CEO - isha.khan@humanrights.ca
Riva Harrison, VP, External Relations and Community Engagement - riva.harrison@humanrights.ca
Matthew Cutler, VP, Exhibitions - matthew.cutler@humanrights.ca
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