Girish Daswani

Overview

Girish Daswani has spread anti-Semitism, expressed support for Hamas war crimes, denied Hamas terror atrocities and spread hatred of Israel during a war against Hamas terrorists. Daswani has also promoted incitement.

Daswani posted his pro-Hamas remarks in the wake of their war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023. The attacks left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”

Daswani participated in a pro-Hamas protest encampment at the University of Toronto (UofT) in 2024.

Daswani is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.  

As of March 18, 2024, Daswani was an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC).

Also as of March 18, 2024, Daswani’s LinkedIn profile said he was located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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Anti-Semitism

On November 3, 2020, Daswani tweeted an excerpt from a blog post about the casting of Israeli actress Gal Gadot as Cleopatra, saying: “‘It is Gadot’s claim to Mediterraneanness that is part of the debate.. it is precisely the question of the status of Israel and Ashkenazi Jews as white settler-colonizers of a Mediterranean landscape that situates Gadot’s Cleopatra’ 👇🏽.”

One way that anti-Israel activists spread anti-Semitism is to claim [00:06:46] that Jews, particularly Ashkenazi Jews, do not descend from the ancient Israelites. This claim alleges that Jews are white Europeans who lack a connection to the Land of Israel.

Ashkenazi Jewry originated from an ancient Jewish community in the Middle East, whose descendants settled in Europe. Geneticists have determined that Ashkenazi Jews share a common genetic thread with different Jewish communities throughout the world.

On April 12, 2024, Daswani posted on X: “White supremacy and new versions of Nazism continue to reemerge in Germany in its blind alignment with and obedience to Israeli Zionist genocide.”

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) highlights as one possible contemporary example of anti-Semitism: “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” The U.S. State Department adopted the IHRA’s working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016. Over 40 countries have adopted the definition as well.

Support for Hamas War Crimes

Daswani retweeted an October 7, 2023 tweet featuring a BBC interview from the same day with the late Gazan activist Refaat Alareer. In the interview, Alareer said [00:01:23] Hamas’s attack was “legitimate and moral…exactly like the Warsaw ghetto uprising,” and that [00:02:50] “the Palestinians have every right to react by all means possible, by all means necessary.”

Daswani retweeted an October 7, 2023 tweet that said: “As Hawaiians wake up to the news of Palestinian anticolonial resistance in Gaza to Israeli settler colonialism, remember that—from Hawaiʻi to Palestine—occupation is a crime. A lāhui [ethnic group] that stands for decolonization and deoccupation should also stand behind freedom for Palestine.”

Anti-Israel activists use the term “resistance” to refer to violence and terror perpetrated against Israeli civilians and their allies. It is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence. Anti-Israel activists chant slogans such as: “Resistance by any means necessary!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” in response to terror attacks.

Daswani retweeted an October 7, 2023 tweet that said: “All scholars who’ve even once used the term ‘decolonisation’ for the advancement of their careers, please note that now is the time to show solidarity with Palestine. Stand with Palestine. End all occupations✊🏽

On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation. 

Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” As of November 10, 2023, approximately 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were murdered during the attacks. Hamas kidnapped 242 Israelis, including at least 30 children. At least 3,500 people were wounded, many severely.

A terrorist detained by Israel admitted he raped an Israeli woman when he broke into a kibbutz house during the October 7, 2023 attack. In March 2024, a former hostage of Hamas publicly stated she was sexually abused and tortured while in captivity.

For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.

On October 9, 2023, two days after the Hamas attacks against Israeli citizens, Daswani responded on Twitter to tweets by Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Toronto mayor Olivia Chow. Both politicians’s October 9, 2023 tweets were in reference to that day’s “unsanctioned rally” taking place in Toronto. The event was held to celebrate Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks.


Daswani claimed in both his tweets that Palestinians were being “indiscrimately murdered.” He also alleged in one tweet that “violence and genocide [were] taking place against an occupied people.”

Trudeau’s tweet said: “I strongly condemn the demonstrations…taking place…in support of Hamas’ attacks on Israel,” to which Daswani responded: “...@JustinTrudeau making this about Hamas is shameful.”

Chow’s tweet featured a statement she wrote that said: “...Glorifying [October 7th’s] indiscriminate violence, including murder and kidnapping of women and children, by Hamas against Israeli civilians is deplorable…” Daswani responded: “...@MayorOliviaChow you have no understanding of settler colonialism.”

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, European Union, Israel and other countries. Founded in 1987, it has killed thousands of Israeli civilians through mass shootings and suicide bombings. Hamas has also kidnapped children, families and the elderly and held them hostage in Gaza. It has desecrated [slide 7] dead bodies and launched numerous rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. 

In the week after Hamas terrorists massacred over 1,200 Israelis, Daswani signed [no. 1428] an “Artists & Academics in Canada: Statement of Solidarity with Palestine.”

The statement said: “We understand that the events of this week did not occur in a vacuum…The whole world understood in the case of Ukraine that resistance to military occupation is justified. It is in fact a right guaranteed by international law. The militant reaction from Palestinians in Gaza on October 7, 2023, is a result of decades of cruel and oppressive treatment.”

The statement also accused Israel of “brutal massacres and weapons testing” and “war crimes” in Gaza, and said: “As artists, cultural workers, and academics, we stand strong in support of the Palestinian struggle for freedom and against all forms of racism and settler-colonial violence.”

Daswani retweeted an October 16, 2023 tweet that said: “Sikhs around the world express firm solidarity for Palestine’s ongoing liberation struggle & resistance to occupation…”

Denying Hamas Terror Atrocities

On January 24, 2024, Daswani tweeted: “...Israeli’s own news channel 13 admit that the stories circulating about khamas atrocities were simply that : stories and lies made up by the army and government representatives.”

Denial of the Hamas war crimes of October 7, 2023, among anti-Israel activists has been likened to Holocaust denial among neo-Nazis.

On October 13, 2023, Daswani tweeted: “People I meet…still believe and reclaim this story of ‘beheaded babies and children’ to rationalize or justify the violence enacted by Israel on the Palestinian people (conflated with Hamas).’”Daswani also claimed that reports of atrocities Hamas had committed on October 7, 2023 were “disinformation and hate spin.”

Hamas terrorists murdered at least 40 Israeli Jewish babies during its October 7, 2023, terror attacks. Some of the babies were beheaded and some were murdered in front of their parents.

Daswani retweeted an October 10, 2023 tweet that referred to reports of Hamas’s atrocities as “fake…based on unverified claims and ‘beliefs’ from the Israeli military.”

Hatred of Israel during a Hamas War

On February 11, 2024, Daswani tweeted: “They’re [Israel] killing fathers, mothers, children, as they air propaganda ad during #SuperBowl2024 to bring back ‘fathers’. Heartless and cruel genocidal nation.”

Daswani’s tweet referred to an advertising campaign launched by Israel for the February 2024 Super Bowl weekend, to raise awareness of 136 Israeli hostages still held captive by Hamas, many of them men. In November-December 2023, 110 Israeli women and children held hostage by Hamas were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Some of the men still held hostage were the fathers of children who had been released.

On February 6, 2024, Daswani tweeted: “Made connections between White supremacy, the Freedom Convoy, Christian nationalism, Hindu nationalism, and Zionism in my lecture today…”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.


On February 4, 2024, Daswani tweeted: “Israel continues to bomb and kill innocent people. This is a murderous state that exemplifies structures and networks of white supremacy supported by countries that have committed and are participants in genocide…”

On January 22, 2024, Daswani tweeted: “If universities/ academics need (yet) another reason to boycott Israeli academic institutions - if the destruction of universities and murder of academics/students is not enough - read this thread showing several Israeli universities demonstrating support for the IDF [Israel Defense Forces].”

On December 7, 2023, Daswani tweeted: “Good afternoon to academics who live in an alternate reality and who believe you are being harmed by others condemning g e no cide and calling for an end to a country’s war crimes. Good afternoon to those who willfully and ignorantly believe ‘intifada’ is a call to g e no cide.”

The term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” carries the connotation of violence. Palestinian intifadas waged against Israel have been marked since 1987 by hundreds of hijackings, shootings, stabbings, bombings and suicide missions.

Also on December 7, 2023, Daswani mocked on Twitter a video by former president of University of Pennsylvania, Liz Magill, in which she clarified [00:00:33]: “...a call for genocide of the Jewish people is a call for some of most terrible violence human beings can perpetrate. It’s evil, plain and simple…As president, I’m committed to a safe, secure and supportive environment so all members of our community can thrive.”

Daswani tweeted in response: “As President I'm committed to not calling out anti-Palestinian racism or a genocide happening in Palestine. I am committed to cowering to pro-Zionist donors and a US agenda that backs Israeli war crimes. I am committed to Whiteness and to Western Civilization. Thank you.”

Promoting Incitement

On May 14, 2021, Daswani posted on Facebook: “If you’re in these US or Canadian cities tomorrow (May 15) do attend these rallies.” The post included a flyer that read: “NAKBA 73 / ALL OUT FOR PALESTINE! / NORTH AMERICAN RALLIES - LOCAL TIMEZONES.”

The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by drawing a comparison to the Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, meaning “catastrophe.”


Text on the flyer also said: “#SAVESHEIKHJARRAH #DEFENDJERUSALEM#GAZAUNDERATTACK…”

In May 2021, calls to “save” Sheikh Jarrah, a Jerusalem neighborhood at the center of a property dispute, led to violence against Israelis and were one of the leading factors in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists firing over 4,300 rockets from Gaza into Israel that month.

Girish Daswani’s Participation in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at UofT

On May 22, 2022, Daswani posted on X that he visited the encampment, which he said was set up to “protest a genocide.” He also posted in support of BDS and included a photo he took at the encampment.

Daswani participated [slide 5] in an anti-Israel ceremony organized by the UofT encampment on June 3, 2024, graduation day at UofT. Protesters held the event to “honor all of those who could not graduate because of the genocide their university is funding.” 

The ceremony was organized by UofT Occupy for Palestine, which according to their Instagram is a body of “Students calling for divestment from entities sustaining the attacks on Gaza + the occupation, apartheid, and illegal settlements of Palestine.”

As of July 2024, Daswani also showed support for the encampment by signing on to a statement put out by UofT community members. The May 20, 2024 statement was part of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The statement backed all the encampment’s demands, including divesting from the alleged “apartheid policies of the state of Israel and its ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

To show support, Daswani submitted a “support selfie,” where text beside his face said: “DISCLOSE. DIVEST. CUT TIES.” 

On May 2, 2024, UofT Occupy for Palestine (Occupy UofT) activists “stormed down” fencing around UofT’s Kings College Circle and set up a pro-Hamas and pro-BDS encampment called the “People’s Circle for Palestine.” Protesters chanted [00:02:59] for “intifada” and celebrated “resistance” [00:02:45]. Both terms are calls for terrorism. Activists chanted [00:01:28; 00:02:21] for Israel’s destruction multiple times.

After the October 7, 2023 massacre of nearly 1,200 Israelis, the inverted red triangle🔻 - became a Hamas symbol. It appeared on large signs at the encampment and was featured in other encampment-related activism. Openly pro-Hamas marches began elsewhere in the city and ended at the encampment. In one incident, pro-Hamas activists punched a Jewish man, stole his Israeli flag and shouted anti-Semitic slurs.

Protesters occupied [00:00:17] the area from May to July 2024, despite UofT warning they were trespassing. On July 3, 2024, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued an injunction at UofT’s request, requiring the encampment to be cleared. Occupy UofT dismantled the encampment and wrote a statement that ended: “Long live the intifada.”

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://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/anthropology/girish-daswani

University Website 2:https://www.anthropology.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/girish-daswani

Academia: https://utoronto.academia.edu/GirishDaswani 

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/girish.daswani

Twitter:https://twitter.com/girishdaswani

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/daswanigirish/ [Private]

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/girish-daswani-b3b5a425

YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg7wS_61UOHU05j2nSEoteA

Bluesky:https://bsky.app/profile/girishdaswani.bsky.social
Girish Daswani
Status:
Professor
University:
Toronto-Scarborough
Organizations:
BDS

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Last Modified:
05/04/2026

Photos & Screenshots

43 images

Infamous Quotes

“[Israel] is a murderous state that exemplifies structures and networks of white supremacy supported by countries that have committed and are participants in genocide…” 
“They’re [Israel] killing fathers, mothers, children, as they air propaganda ad during #SuperBowl2024 to bring back ‘fathers’. Heartless and cruel genocidal nation.”