Berlin accused the museum of betraying its Jewish supporters with such an exhibit. By Shiryn Ghermezian, The AlgemeinerThe only Jewish member of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) board of trustees resigned on Monday effective immediately because of concerns over the museum’s “one-sided” exhibit on the so-called Palestinian “Nakba” set to open this week.International human rights lawyer and scholar Mark Berlin was appointed by the Canadian government as a trustee of the CMHR in 2018.He was formerly the senior adviser on the Middle East to former Attorney General Irwin Cotler and director general of international legal programs at Canada’s Department of Justice, where he oversaw efforts to establish justice sector reforms around the world including in the Palestinian Authority.Berlin addressed his resignation letter on Monday to Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller and CMHR’s board chairman.He said he has decided to no longer be associated with the Winnipeg museum because it plans to proceed with the exhibit, “Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present,” in its present form, despite repeated concerns raised by himself and members of the Jewish community.“Nakba,” the Arabic term for “catastrophe,” is used by Palestinians and anti-Israel activists to refer to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948.Activists often invoke the term when discussing the displacement of some 750,000 Palestinian Arabs following Israel’s War of Independence, many of whom left the nascent state for varied reasons, including that they were encouraged by Arab leaders to flee their homes to make way for the invading Arab armies.At the same time, about 850,000 Jews were forced to flee or expelled from Middle Eastern and North African countries in the 20th century, primarily in the aftermath of Israel’s declaring independence.Berlin wrote that presenting the 1948 displacement of Palestinians without “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.”He said talking about a historical event “with a one-sided perspective” selected by the museum “serves to deepen division and contributes to further hostility toward Jews in Canada” and raises concerns about the institution’s ability to fulfill its obligations under the Museums Act.Berlin said the exhibit, opening on Saturday, fails to explain that Arab nations rejected a 1947 United Nations plan to create separate Jewish and Arab states in the territory and launched a war against the newly established state of Israel.The exhibit focuses on the displacement of Palestinian Arabs, but Berlin criticized it for not acknowledging the Jewish people who were forced to flee Arab countries at the same time.He wrote that the museum’s “vague commitment” to mentioning the Jewish displacement in a later, unconfirmed exhibit is not good enough because “the stories are not severable — they occurred at the same historical moment.”“A story detached from the surrounding factual details is not the truth; it is just a story,” he added.“The 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’s mandate is thereby compromised along with the public’s confidence in its integrity. The museum loses its legitimacy when it presents as historical truth a narrative that erases a crucial part of the history.”Berlin accused the museum of betraying its Jewish supporters with such an exhibit. He believes the museum’s decision to omit the historical and political context surrounding the “Nakba,” and the museum’s “selective approach to history,” is “politically motivated.”He additionally slammed the institution for its “profound failure” in uniting communities.“Instead, the controversy surrounding this exhibit, and my unsuccessful effort to fight against what I believe to be institutional anti-Zionism and to bring a more balanced perspective to the exhibit’s development, has undermined my confidence in the museum as a place the Canadian public can trust to present an accurate historical exhibit, replacing trust with ideology.”The Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada said Berlin’s resignation validates its own previous concerns about the “Nakba” exhibit.“Mr. Berlin is a respected scholar and someone who has worked, on the ground, to promote peace and human rights in Israel and Palestine,” noted B’nai Brith Canada’s CEO Simon Wolle.“His letter must serve as a wake-up call not only to the CMHR’s remaining trustees but to Minister Miller.” He also called on the Canadian government to intervene.“It is the government’s job to step in when a trustee resigns and speaks out about a Federal Crown corporation’s internal governance, its work, and its impact on the Canadian public,” Wolle explained.“The CMHR’s mishandling of this exhibit should concern every Canadian. It is not only about the potential harms to the Jewish community, but what it says about the state of our federal institutions, our values, and Canada’s role in upholding international norms and human rights.”Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said on Monday the “lack of transparency” in the exhibit has “severely undermined confidence in a publicly-funded institution and ultimately left its sole Jewish board representative feeling compelled to resign.”He called on Miller “to hold the museum’s leadership accountable and ensure that national institutions are not weaponized against Canadians to serve a one-sided political agenda.”He said the museum consulted with political activists when curating the exhibit, including one who described the Jewish community’s identity as “a disease to be destroyed.”In a statement cited by CTV News, Miller’s office thanked Berlin for his work as a trustee of CMHR and said he would be replaced.“Like all Canadians, we expect the board of trustees to continue its important work in fulfilling the mission of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and to remain representative of the diversity of Canadian voices, as the vacancy is filled in the coming months,” wrote spokeswoman Alisson Levesque.CMHR CEO Isha Khan said on Monday the exhibit aims to highlight the lived experiences of Palestinian Canadians and their stories of forced displacement, according to Canada’s CBC News.Khan added that the museum understands Berlin’s concerns but claimed the exhibit has received support from Jewish Canadians. Board chair Benjie Nycum said the museum’s board “remains committed” to the exhibit’s opening.The post Only Jewish trustee of Canadian human rights museum resigns over ‘one-sided Nakba’ exhibit appeared first on World Israel News.