Greta Thunberg has once again sparked outrage with her pro-Palestinian statements at a climate demonstration. Green Party leader Lang calls the appearance “absolutely indecent.” “Very naive,” says Central Council President Schuster – if not downright anti-Semitic.
A black and white Palestinian scarf around her neck and pro-Palestinian slogans on stage: with this appearance at a climate protection demo in Amsterdam, the Swede Greta Thunberg has once again attracted a lot of criticism. The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, criticized the climate activist as at least naive and perhaps even anti-Semitic. He literally said on “Welt-TV”: “I think there is no doubt that she is very, very naive. To assume anti-Semitism is always a serious accusation. But what I am experiencing here – I am very close to that on this accusation.”
Schuster further criticized Thunberg for using the climate movement and its celebrities to protest against Israel. “Greta Thunberg, who was able to really make a difference for the climate movement, has now obviously looked for a new topic and wants to connect it with climate activists. I think this mishmash that is now suddenly coming to light here is to be absolutely condemned .”
At the demonstration in Amsterdam, Thunberg told tens of thousands of listeners that the climate protection movement had a duty to “listen to the voices of those who are oppressed and who are fighting for peace and justice.” Thunberg also chanted several times: “No climate justice on occupied land,” apparently alluding to the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel.
“Clearly name the horse and rider”
It is precisely because many followers are so young and possibly easy to influence that “it is so dangerous,” warned Schuster. It is time for “Fridays for Future” Germany “to think very quickly about whether they really want to sail under the same flag with Greta Thunberg.” The movement must give itself a new name as quickly as possible.
The written statement according to which Fridays for Future Germany has suspended international networking with Fridays for Future is not enough for Schuster: “Suspended is nice, it is good, it is right, it is important. But as long as you have the name in your own name , you make yourself common with the movement and therefore with the figurehead Greta Thunberg.”
In principle he has nothing against pro-Palestinian demonstrations, the Central Council President added. But it must be clear to all participants that Hamas is abusing the civilian population as hostages and that there will be no reversal of perpetrator and victim: “In such demonstrations, I expect that the horse and rider will be clearly named.” This includes the fact that the civilian population in Gaza has found itself in a very unfortunate situation because they are being held hostage by the terrorist organization Hamas, as human shields.
Green Party leader Lang: “Absolutely indecent”
Green Party leader Ricarda Lang also found clear words for Thunberg’s appearance. She criticized their comments as “absolutely indecent”. One could “almost say” that Thunberg was associating with perpetrators and victims. The activist misuses “the concerns of climate protection for a one-sided position.”
The president of the German-Israeli Society (DIG), Volker Beck, described Thunberg’s statements at the demo as the “end of Greta Thunberg as a climate activist.” “From now on I’ll be a full-time hater of Israel,” he wrote on the online service X, formerly Twitter. This means the “end” of the global climate protection movement Fridays For Future (FFF), founded by Thunberg, “as a label for ecology”.
The Israeli embassy in Berlin commented on X that it was “sad how Greta Thunberg is once again abusing the climate stage for her own purposes.” In English, the embassy added the call “No stage for anti-Semites.”
Even at the climate protection demonstration itself, Thunberg’s statements were not met with support from all participants. During her speech, an elderly protester came to the stage, grabbed Thunberg’s microphone and shouted: “I came here for a climate demonstration, not for political views.”
Fridays for Future Germany at a distance
On October 20th, Thunberg and other activists called for solidarity with the Palestinians on Instagram. “The world must stand up and demand an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for the Palestinians and all affected civilians,” it said.
The international organization Fridays for Future said in an Instagram post that the global media is “financed by imperialist governments that stand behind Israel.” The group spoke of “brainwashing” and described Israel as an “apartheid system”. There was no mention of the Israelis murdered by the militant Islamist Hamas.
In recent weeks, the German Fridays for Future organization has repeatedly taken a stand against anti-Semitism and distanced itself from statements made by the international umbrella organization against Israel. Activist Luisa Neubauer said in a “Zeit” interview at the end of October with a view to statements from Fridays for Future outside Germany: “It is obvious that the global realities differ for many organizations when it comes to Israel and Palestine. But that justifies neither Anti-Semitism and disinformation.”