Charles Butterworth

Butterworth is also president of the American Academy of Liberal Education.

Defending Terror-Financier

Butterworth reportedly characterized Sami al-Arian — the North American head and chief fundraiser for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) — as a victim of ‘“tyranny of the majority,” following al-Arian’s arrest.

A former University of South Florida professor, al-Arian pled guilty to conspiring to aid PIJ and admitted to knowing that it used violence to achieve its ends.

PIJ is a terror group a terror group “whose objective is the destruction of the State of Israel and the establishment of a sovereign, Islamic Palestinian state.” PIJ is backed by Iran and has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks.

Supporting BDS

Butterworth signed an August 2014 letter titled “Middle East Scholars and Librarians Call for Boycott of Israeli Academia.”

In signing this petition, Butterworth committed “not to collaborate on projects and events involving Israeli academic institutions, not to teach at or to attend conferences and other events at such institutions, and not to publish in academic journals based in Israel.”

During the annual 2014 conference of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), Butterworth signed a resolution that defended “the right of scholarly associations to boycott Israel” and called on MESA to “provide platforms for a sustained discussion of the academic boycott and foster careful consideration of an appropriate position for MESA to assume.”

MESA is considered the most important association of Middle East Studies.

Demonizing Israel

Butterworth signed a July 2014 letter addressed to Israeli academics that called for the condemnation of Israel.

The letter claimed that the Israeli government had “provoked the firing of rockets” into Israeli territory in order to justify military intervention and ultimately influence internal Palestinian politics.

The letter was written during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE).
Israel implemented OPE to destroy Hamas attack tunnels and stop rocket fire from Gaza targeting Israeli civilians — that increased dramatically in the weeks prior to OPE.

BDS

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true. 

One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”  

Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”

In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”

The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.

BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.

The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.

Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.

BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.

Social Media and Weblinks

University Website: https://globalmaryland.umd.edu/content/charles-butterworth