I'm baffled that this exhibit would be at the centre of any protest. I shouldn't be. But I am.
Read more at Lumpy, Grumpy and Frumpy
Here's what the Ottawa Citizen had to say about it:
An odd assortment of groups are protesting the exhibit on the grounds that the scrolls are stolen artifacts and really belong to Arabs, not Jews. Yes, you read that correctly. Hebrew manuscripts of the Jewish Bible that were written centuries before Muhammad was born are, apparently, Muslim property.
It's easy to see what's going on here. Just as Holocaust denial circulates in some corners of the anti-Israel movement, there is a parallel effort to deny the Jewish people's ancestral connection to the Holy Land. The idea is to delegitimize Israel by denying the indigenous rights of Jews. Some Israel-haters have even taken to arguing that Palestinian Arabs are the real descendants of "ancient Hebrews."
It makes me think of the Trail of Blood theory of the Christian Church, where they try to fit facts to contemporary ideas. Very conspiracy-based history.
(And if you don't get the reference, it's a Catholic apologist's thing).
H/T: Girl on the Right
