Greta came to Israel with a message—but left with a deportation.
Around 2 weeks ago, Swedish environmentalist and political activist Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel after their navy prevented her and a group of pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza on a ship with humanitarian aid. Though the activists may have been acting with good intentions, the Israeli Foreign Ministry dedicated itself to preventing any ship from reaching Gaza, giving their military permission to use any means necessary to stop naval blockade breaches. Greta’s expulsion from Israel sends a chilling message to political activists all over the world and raises questions about democracy and the geopolitics of protesting.
The Story of Greta Thunberg
Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg has been in activism ever since she was a kid. At just 15, she organized a school strike on climate change, protesting outside the Swedish parliament every day and calling for stronger action on climate change. Thunberg’s youth and straightforward manner helped her relate and connect with people of all ages and backgrounds, which quickly put her into a position of great power and influence.
A year later, at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit, she delivered an inflammatory speech admonishing the world’s leaders for their inaction and indifference to environmental deterioration. After her high school graduation in 2023, she has only continued to advocate for the issues she is passionate about, using peaceful protests and civil disobedience tactics to mobilize her supporters. Though she has received lots of criticism, some due to her age, but she has also received numerous awards from Forbes and Time.
Greta has never been the type of person to let criticism affect her actions or settle down for world leaders, and this latest situation just cements that fact.
The Price of Aid
In her latest mission, Greta and 11 other activists sailed on The Madleen, a yacht given to them by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, on June 10th to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza in protest of current Israeli treatment of Palestinians. 5 of the other activists alongside her refused to sign the deportation order, condemning the Israeli government’s action as illegal. Though Greta was released on June 10th, all the activists were only released by June 16th. The activists said that they were trying to deliver a symbolic amount of aid and that the demonstration was mainly to protest the Israeli government.
Israeli government officials have a very different point of view. The Israeli foreign ministry condemned the act as a pro-Hamas stunt, with Foreign Minister Gideon Saar saying that the ridiculous protests' meager amount of aid had less than a truckload. Furthermore, according to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, the detainees were shown a screening of the “horror film documenting the October 7 massacre” carried out by Hamas but refused to continue watching.
The Aftermath
As a result, Greta and her actions have once again been thrust into the international spotlight, with many continuing to speak out about the event. President Trump stated after the incident that he thinks she “has to go to an anger management class.” Greta would respond, saying, "I think the world needs a lot more young angry women to be honest, especially with everything going on right now." The FFC continues to condemn Israel’s actions as an illegal kidnapping due to its having no legal authority to detain international volunteers on international waters. Amnesty International, a global human rights NGO, also deplores the detention of the activists.
In the end, Greta may have been removed from Israel, but the attention she brought back to the conflict raging across the Gaza Strip lingers. The world is watching, and only time will tell how the future is affected.