A post by climate activist Greta Thunberg has sparked a debate. Now Fridays for Future is speaking out.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg caused a stir on Friday with an X contribution to the Middle East war. “Today we are striking in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza. The world must raise its voice and demand an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for the Palestinians and all affected civilians,” wrote the Fridays for Future initiator. Pro-Palestinian organizations had called for a “general strike,” and Thunberg shared the leaflet in an Instagram story.
Thunberg’s post received a lot of attention in the online media and sparked outrage in parts of German politics. Critics particularly complained that Thunberg did not specifically mention the 1,400 deaths in the major attack by the Islamist Hamas on Israel two weeks ago.
“Dualistic, false and trivializing terrorism”
The anti-Semitism commissioner for the state of Baden-Württemberg, Michael Blume, called the posting on the platform X, formerly Twitter, “dualistic, false and trivializing terrorism.” Landshut Bundestag member Marlene Schönberger from the Greens told “Welt” that Thunberg had achieved a lot in the fight for climate protection. With her statement, however, she proves that the compassion she has “for those affected by the climate crisis” does not seem to apply to Jews affected by “barbaric acts of extermination.”
Fridays for Future (FFF) positioned itself on Thunberg’s contribution on Friday afternoon. “We stand in solidarity with the victims of Hamas’ violence, condemn the terror and hope that all hostages will return safely,” the environmental activists wrote on “We are witnessing anti-Semitic violence here. We see the suffering of the civilian population and especially the children in Gaza.” The increasing anti-Muslim racism here in Germany is causing activists great concern.
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“Israel’s right to exist is non-negotiable”
The article concluded: “We would like to remind you once again that FFF Germany is a climate movement, but at the same time we see ourselves as having a great historical responsibility here. We would like to repeat our basic lines again: Israel’s right to exist is non-negotiable. Humanitarian International law applies to everyone. Human rights apply to everyone.”
A few hours after Thunberg posted the post on Friday, she deleted it and re-uploaded it, this time with a new photo. There had previously been criticism of a cuddly toy seen in the picture, which was said to be reminiscent of an anti-Semitic symbol. Thunberg wrote in her new post that she was unaware of the similarity. “We are of course against any kind of discrimination and condemn anti-Semitism in any form,” she wrote on X. Read more about the background here.
