Greta Thunberg called for a “cease fire now” in the Middle East on Sunday. This Monday, in Germany, several voices were raised to criticize the climate activist. The young woman spoke during a march for the environment which brought together some 70,000 participants in Amsterdam, 10 days before the holding of early elections in the Netherlands.
“As a climate justice movement, we must listen to the voices of those who are oppressed and those fighting for freedom and justice,” she told the crowd. She was interrupted by a man who tried to snatch the microphone from her, claiming to have come for an ecological demonstration – this one was organized by a coalition bringing together Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for Future, Oxfam and Greenpeace – and not for “his political point of view.
Positions deemed pro-Palestinian
In Germany, where Israel’s security is considered a “reason of state” due to the country’s historical responsibility in the Shoah, this episode caused a stir, with some accusing it of taking positions considered pro-Palestinian in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
It marks “the end of Greta Thunberg as a climate activist,” said Volker Becker, president of DIG, a German-Israeli friendship group. “Hate of Israel is its main cause,” he added. The Israeli embassy in Germany said it was “sad that Greta Thunberg is using the climate scene for personal gain”.
Fridays for Future denounced the “genocide” in Gaza
Following the Israeli bombings on Gaza, which followed the bloody attacks by Hamas on October 7 against Israel, Fridays for Future denounced the “genocide” in Gaza and criticized “Western support and disinformation machines”. Comments from which the president of the German section of the organization, Luisa Neubauer, dissociated herself. She recently said she was “disappointed that Greta Thunberg had nothing concrete to say about the Jewish victims of the October 7 massacre.”
Greta Thunberg was “extraordinarily thoughtful and insightful” in the past, but the movement will now need to examine “who we still have a basis for working with, based on shared values,” she said. “It is clear that (…) global realities diverge when it comes to Israel and Palestine. But that does not justify anti-Semitism or disinformation,” she warned.