John Greyson

Overview

John Greyson has engaged in anti-Israel activism as a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and the co-founder of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA), which he started in 2008. Greyson was also arrested while attempting to reach Gaza in 2013.

Greyson showed support for the pro-Hamas protest encampment at the University of Toronto (UofT) in July 2024.

As of the same date, Greyson was listed as a fellow at UofT’s Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies.

As of September 2023, Greyson was listed as an associate professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Arts in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design at York University (York), which is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

As of the same date, Greyson was reportedly “a Canadian director, writer, video artist, producer, and political activist.”

Anti-Israel Activism (BDS, Freedom Flotilla)

In August 2014, Greyson signed the “Open Letter on Gaza and BDS from the Middle East Caucus of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.”

The letter described “indiscriminate and disproportionate violence that has been waged… by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) against the civilian population of Gaza” that it characterized as “the largest ‘open air prison’ in the world.”

The letter endorsed the BDS movement and alleged that during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) against Hamas, “the violence has taken an unprecedented and savage turn, having reached genocidal proportions.”

Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.

On April 29, 2014, Greyson signed a petition to “Boycott Israeli Cinema and TV Studies Conference at Tel Aviv University.”

The petition called on scholars to boycott an upcoming conference at Tel Aviv University (TAU), and it provided a link to the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).

On November 12, 2013, in an interview published by Electronic Intifada (EI), Greyson spoke about his membership in QuAIA and how it prompted his desire to travel to Gaza.

Greyson explained [00:07:00]: “Through Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA), our group has worked since the beginning with all sorts of international groups... And I’ve been part of that networking and especially that focus around boycott, divestment and sanctions. So bringing queer activism and queer organizing to the BDS movement.”

In August 2013, Greyson attempted to travel to Gaza but Egyptian police arrested him for reportedly observing a violent political demonstration.

In July 2011, Greyson participated [00:00:08] in the Canadian Boat to Gaza (CBG), which was part of the Freedom Flotilla II, whose purpose was “to break the Israeli-led blockade of Gaza.”

The United Nations approved [pp. 39–41] the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza in 2011 as a security measure to stop Hamas from acquiring sophisticated rockets. Multiple flotillas have attempted to breach the blockade, with at least one flotilla initiating a violent confrontation with Israeli forces.

Several of the participating vessels were detained by the Greek coast guard before reaching Gaza, including the Canadian vessel Tahrir that Greyson was aboard.

On August 27, 2009, Greyson withdrew his film from the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to protest TIFF’s decision to spotlight Tel Aviv and the films of 10 Israeli filmmakers.

March 17, 2009, Greyson wrote a letter to announce that he would be boycotting an upcoming international film festival in Tel Aviv.

In explaining his decision, Greyson wrote: “I feel I must join …the growing global BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement against Israeli apartheid.”

John Greyson’s Support for the Pro-Hamas Encampment at UofT

As of July 2024, John Greyson 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, Greyson 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.