{"id":110397,"date":"2026-06-30T17:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/110397\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T17:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:06:09","slug":"canadian-heritage-minister-decries-failure-to-label-hamas-as-terror-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/110397\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian heritage minister decries failure to label Hamas as terror org."},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadian Heritage Minister Marc Miller apologized for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights not referring to Hamas as a terrorist organization in its new Nakba exhibition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The plaque, titled \u201cUnder Occupation,\u201d reads, \u201cFollowing the Hamas<\/a> attack that killed about 1,200 people on October 7, 2023.\u201d It does not use the words \u201cJews\u201d [to refer to the people killed] or \u201cterrorists\u201d [to refer to Hamas].<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Canadian Press on Monday, Miller called the decision an \u201cerror.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t up to me to speak to, or insert myself in, the curation of any particular exhibit. But manifestly, you cannot deny the fact that this is an exhibit that is born in controversy \u2013 and perhaps some of it could have been avoided,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some words in there that are regrettable. Not identifying Hamas as a terrorist organization is, I think, a failure. And not clearly stating that, for example, Hamas intended to kill Jews is, I think, an unfortunate error in curation and should be rectified,\u201d Miller added.<\/p>\n

\"AerialAerial view of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, on April 28, 2024. (credit: SEBASTIEN ST-JEAN\/AFP via Getty Images)B\u2019nai Brith Canada decries CMHR’s biased exhibit<\/p>\n

In response, B\u2019nai Brith Canada<\/a> said, \u201cMinister Marc Miller cannot divorce his office from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights\u2019 Nakba exhibit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the Federal Government allowed to transpire was not a curatorial error; the available evidence suggests that the CMHR\u2019s leadership failed to govern the museum in accordance with its mandate.”<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, after the exhibit has opened to the public, the minister has acknowledged some of the deficiencies in the exhibit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is that this is not simply about one missing reference to Hamas. It is about Canada\u2019s national human rights museum being enabled to present a biased account of a deeply contested historical and political subject, even after its leadership and the Federal Government were repeatedly warned of the dangers of presenting an incomplete and misleading narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noah Shack, CEO of the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, visited the exhibition and said it tells a \u201cdistorted version of history that whitewashes the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, the Second Intifada, and the wars of annihilation against Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Katz, a political science and history student at the University of Manitoba, wrote in the National Post that he came away thinking the Canadian government \u201cis officially failing Jews and Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than inviting Canadians to wrestle with one of the world\u2019s most complex conflicts, it teaches visitors to understand the conflict as solely a consequence of Israel\u2019s creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katz also noted that the Nakba exhibit is physically positioned so that it follows on from the museum\u2019s Holocaust gallery, such that visitors must move directly from one to the other.<\/p>\n

Katz said the transition creates a \u201csubtle but unmistakable emotional and interpretive bridge between two entirely different historical contexts.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also noted the panel\u2019s reference to the Second Intifada as a \u201cPalestinian uprising\u201d with no mention of the over 1,000 Israelis murdered.<\/p>\n

Jewish groups, leaders expressed concerns about exhibit leading up to opening<\/p>\n

This comes after months of opposition to the Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present exhibition from mainstream Jewish groups who expressed concern about the concept and management of the exhibition.<\/p>\n

It also comes about a week after the only Jewish board member<\/a> of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR), Mark Berlin, resigned, citing that he was unwilling to be associated with the exhibit.<\/p>\n

\u201cTelling the story with a one-sided perspective chosen by the museum serves to deepen division and contributes to further hostility toward Jews in Canada,\u201d Berlin wrote in his letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresenting the Palestinian displacement of 1948 without its proper historical and political context offers a narrow, one-sided argument of history that can only deepen the distrust and animosity that currently exists between Jews and Muslims in this country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe museum has a statutory and moral obligation to tell the full truth, not to sacrifice it at the altar of politics. By their actions, the museum\u2019s mandate is thereby compromised along with the public\u2019s confidence in its integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canadian Heritage Minister Marc Miller apologized for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights not referring to Hamas as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,5340,7948,30344,32664,10960],"class_list":["post-110397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-diaspora","tag-hamas","tag-nakba","tag-terrorist","tag-the-october-7-massacre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}