Edward Curtis

Overview

Edward Curtis [Edward E. Curtis IV] is a Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). He is also IUPUI’s Millennium Chair of the Liberal Arts.

Curtis is the faculty advisor of the Interfaith Coalition for Palestine (ICP) at IUPUI and founder of IUPUI Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine. He is also the chairman of the Christians for Peace & Justice in the Middle East (CPJME). All three organizations endorse the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and promote BDS on IUPUI’s campus.

Promoting Anti-Semitism Under The Guise of Human Rights

In March of 2016, Curtis signed a petition endorsing BDS and disingenuously denying that BDS is rife with anti-Semitism.

The petition was headlined "BDS Opposes all Racism--Including Anti-Semitism." The petition, however, showcased BDS’ anti-Semitism. The petition quoted Omar Barghouti calling Zionism a form of racism and bigotry:

"The struggle for our inalienable rights is one opposed to all forms of racism and bigotry, including, but not limited to, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Zionism, and other forms of bigotry directed at anyone, and in particular people of color and indigenous peoples everywhere."

The petition also stated that "[a]n end to racism in all its forms depends on an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine."

On March 25, 2016, Curtis co-wrote an article with Bill Mullen on the anti-Israel hate-site Mondoweiss, defending the BDS movement and criticizing the Indiana Senate for signing an anti-BDS bill into law. The article claimed that the reason Indiana legislators cared about passing the bill was because it “is a relatively easy way to pander to pro-Israel special interests in the state…”

Privileging Incitement as "Education" and “Political Commitment”

As of May 29, 2016, Curtis signed a statement posted on the anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)’s website called “Religious Studies Scholars Statement of Solidarity with the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement.”

The statement slammed Israel for alleged “violations of human rights” and went on to say: “[w]e pledge to defend freedom of expression, intellectual curiosity, engaged pedagogy, political commitment, and open scholarship for all, including Palestinian children and university students whose rights to an education are systematically violated...”

Under the anchor text "university students" JVP linked to an article that recounted “military incidents” at various Palestinian universities, such as Al Quds, Birzeit, and Al Najah.

The article omitted all mention of the student activities that led to the military incidents.

The article alleged that at Al Quds university "sixty students were arrested and detained for their political affiliations and on-campus activities." Omitted, however, was the mention of students directly involved in murderous terror activity. The article also absented mention of Islamic Jihad's parade at the university, featuring traditional Nazi salutes and Hamas’ activities on campus.

When Brandeis University — which had a relationship with Al Quds— requested Al Quds to condemn the Islamic Jihad rally, the university instead released a statement condemning "Jewish extremists" and discussing “freedom.” Brandeis subsequently severed its connection with Al Quds.

JVP and Curtis’s unqualified support of all [Palestinian] "university students" covers Birzeit university's Shabiba student group, who in December 2015 posted Facebook pictures of themselves beside a Christmas tree decorated with the portraits of terrorist murderers — including one who had recently stabbed four Israeli civilians. The terrorists whose images decorated the Christmas tree were collectively responsible for thousands of murderous attacks against Israelis. Behind the Birzeit students was a sign that proclaimed: “The way to freedom is a bullet and a martyr... a crescent and a cross; Merry Christmas, [Fatah] Shabiba student movement, Birzeit University.”

Curtis’ unqualified support also extends to students at Al-Najah University, the largest Palestinian university in the West Bank, who launched and celebrated a triumphal exhibit lauding the Sbarro cafe suicide bombing.That bombing specifically targeted religious Jewish patrons and killed 18 people, including 8 children. The blast wounded another 87 people. Al-Najah’s exhibit featured a mock-up of Sbarro’s, including gnawed pizza crusts and bloody plastic body parts suspended from the ceiling, as if they were flying through the air.

ICP: Demonizing Israel

ICP became an official IUPUI student group in March of 2015. The group frequently uses its Facebookaccount to spread misleading anti-Israel invective and promote BDS. ICP’s faculty adviser is IUPUI professor Edward Curtis, the founder of IUPUI Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, which endorses BDS.

On May 14, 2016, ICP shared on Facebook a fraud-laden video by AJ+, that propagated lies about Israel and the history of the Israeli-Arab conflict. These claims were quickly refuted by a video created by The Israel Project, highlighting AJ+’s inaccuracies and deceptions.

On October 28, 2015, ICP hosted an event at IUPUI called "Why Boycotting Israeli Universities is the Right Thing to Do."

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

Website: https://edward-curtis.com/

University Website: https://liberalarts.iupui.edu/departments/american-studies/directory/edward-e-curtis-iv/