Greta Thunberg, the child activist famous for her attention-grabbing antics, both infuriating and strangely comical.
“It is regrettable,” I wrote in 2019 after she achieved notoriety for shaming the world on climate change, “that a confused and frightened teenager convinced that the world will end tomorrow is thrust into the position of significantly influencing that discussion.”
Five years later, when she transferred her sympathies from hurricane victims to terrorists, I upgraded that aversion from mere annoyance to unbridled fury. Then realized that my expressions of outrage were only helping her advance a self-serving agenda aimed at fanning the fame.
And so, I mentioned her no more. Until now.
What changed my mind was the activist’s almost satirical journey aboard an “aid boat” aimed at breaking Israel’s so-called “anti-humanitarian” blockade of Gaza. What got my attention, in particular, was a Facebook video featuring a group of youngers aboard a boat of their own.
“We are the children of Israel,” one declared, “and we’re looking for Greta’s boat.”
Then he explained why.
“Children say the truth,” the young boy explained. “Greta Thunberg, when you were a child, you wanted to do good, not evil. You wanted to protect the world. How come you suddenly became a supporter of terror?”
“You talk about genocide,” the lad continued. “How can you not condemn the horrors of October 7? If you want to provide food for the people of Gaza, I suggest you condemn Hamas. Because the truth is that Hamas is taking all the food from the people of Gaza, not Israel.”
“And what about the hostages?” he went on. “Are you going to give them any food? I invite you to meet me and I will show you what the children of Israel are going through. I hope you wake up and understand that you’re on the wrong side of history. You know children always tell the truth…Am Yisrael Chai!”
Translation: “The people of Israel live!”
My immediate reaction was that I couldn’t have said it any better myself. “Out of the mouth of babes…,” I thought, and so retreated to the laptop now serving as my typewriter.
The Israelis, of course, never let Thunberg’s boat get anywhere near Gaza. “The State of Israel,” Defense Minister Israel Katz announced well in advance, “will not allow anyone to violate the naval blockade of Gaza, the primary purpose of which is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas.” To do otherwise, he added, would create a dangerous precedent.
Instead, Israeli forces intercepted the aid boat, boarded it, and offered food to its12 passenger including Thunberg, now 22, who was pictured grinning broadly as a naval officer handed her a pastrami sandwich. The small cargo of aid, including rice and baby formula, they promised, would be delivered through “real humanitarian channels.”
Then they did something I applaud: screened a harrowing 43-minute video showing Hamas terrorists torturing, raping, and murdering innocent civilians on October 7.
Thunberg and her cohorts, witnesses reported, refused to watch.
“Once again,” Jonathan Sacerdoti wrote in The Spectator, “the Mediterranean has hosted a familiar theatre of self-satisfied spectacle. This time, however, the curtain has come down swiftly.”
Writing in the Times of Israel, blogger Elkana Bar Eitan addressed Thunberg directly. “Greta,” he wrote, “you lost your way many years ago. Unfortunately, you now represent one of the worst terrorist groups in human history…I don’t think you have much decency left inside you, but maybe your short interaction with the Israeli people will have a positive impact on you.”
Pausing briefly in France en route back to her native Sweden, Thunberg told reporters she’d been illegally “kidnapped in international waters” and agreed with a suggestion that her experience at the hands of the Israelis amounted to an “interrogation.”
Oh well, at least we can dream.
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David Haldane is an award-winning American journalist and author with homes in Southern California and Northern Mindanao. His latest book, Dark Skies: Tales of Turbulence in Paradise, is available on Amazon. This column appears weekly in The Manila Times.
