Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg attempted to sail to Gaza as part of an aid flotilla defined as humanitarian, but which in practice constituted a distinctly ideological act—a political provocation disguised as compassion.
The boat she sailed on carried no meaningful humanitarian aid, only symbolism—another attempt in the international consciousness space to establish the narrative that Gaza is the sole victim, Israel is the eternal oppressor and any resistance, even if murderous, is moral if directed against “occupation.”
Thunberg, 22, is that same Earth activist who understands from her experience the need to use narrative to remain in global consciousness, whether it’s “saving the planet” or “liberating Palestine”—especially when it aligns with other groups whose hidden motive stems from hatred and antisemitism, or as some would say, from fear of Islam in Europe itself.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas carried out one of the most shocking massacres in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: 1,200 murdered, including babies, women, Israeli Arabs, foreign workers and Christians. Hamas didn’t just harm Jews. It slaughtered the very idea of tolerance. But in the progressive left consciousness, as it has formed in recent decades, there is no room for complexity: the oppressor will forever remain the oppressor, even when slaughtered by the “oppressed.” Progressive movements worldwide—from LGBTQ activists to climate movements—have been absorbed into this ethos. Resistance to colonialism has become a supreme value, even when it is a mask for dark theocracy or in Hamas’s name, and even considering the involvement of Gazan civilians and the celebrations of joy seen upon news of the massacre.
Since the 1970s, there has been a convergence of post-colonial approaches, criticism of the West and institutionalized opposition to the liberal order. This created an ideological alliance combining progressive movements with anti-Zionist ideas. Palestine became a symbol of moral universality—but not the real Palestine or Gaza, rather an aesthetic image, distant, disconnected from Hamas, from human rights violations, from the absence of religious or gender freedom. Thus, climate activists from Europe can demonstrate alongside Hamas flags without seeing any contradiction.
Thunberg became an international hero not through policy, not through solution proposals, but through myth. And myth needs to be built, cultivated and developed. Thus, in 2019, long before the Hamas attack, one could identify the ideological line she adopts: the climate crisis is a product of colonialism, oppression and “genocide.” In her words: “The climate crisis is not just a result of failed systems—it is also a product of colonialism, oppression, and genocide.” The flag connecting climate and systemic justice, environment and anti-imperialist struggle, was already raised there.
Thunberg operates against Israel as an episode—part of a comprehensive worldview in which the West (including Israel) is the symbol of oppression that must be destroyed. In 2021, she participated in a rally where the call “Crush Zionism” was heard, and after the Hamas attack, she published caricatures condemning Israel and Germany, ignored the murder and joined calls to boycott Israel. Some will argue she didn’t explicitly support Hamas—but the narrative she represents justifies its actions through thunderous silence.
The case of Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian activist murdered in Gaza in 2011 by Islamic factions, illustrates the absurdity well. Arrigoni was not an enemy, but a clear supporter of “Palestinian resistance.” But for religious fanatics, your intentions don’t matter—who you are matters. Western, liberal, secular—meaning infidel. Thunberg and her friends will be received the same way if they ever enter Gaza, because they are not part of the world Hamas seeks to build. They are enemies, even if they don’t want to see it. Why destroy a good narrative with facts, especially when the whole world swallows it eagerly?
Even the aid itself—the supposedly humanitarian part of the flotilla—is not free from propaganda. Hamas, as is known, has hijacked most international aid initiatives, shot at civilians who tried to access food supplies not under its control, and demands that aid be transferred only through the United Nations. Why? Because control of aid is control of consciousness. Whoever distributes food gains legitimacy. And Thunberg’s aid, besides being materially ineffective, serves Hamas’s goal of applying international pressure on Israel—not freeing Gaza from its rule.
The struggle here is not just about a fence, border crossing, or flotilla. It is a struggle over meaning, over the possibility of distinguishing between moral evil and automatic patterns of justice. Thunberg is a child seeking attention. But she carries, inadvertently, blindly, or out of self-hatred, the flag of an enemy, and with it, she wins the battle for consciousness in advance.
Part of me, I admit, would have liked Israel to have let her into Gaza. Then she and her ilk would have understood who sanctifies death and who sanctifies life, what our kidnapped men and women have gone through and are going through at the hands of bloodthirsty murderers, what they think of her and what the “freedom fighters of Palestine” she defends would do to her. But another part of me, the more moral one, will always prevail and prevent her from entering—not just to save her from herself, but because our society is still worthy of good. Our challenge is not to convince Greta. She is a product. The challenge is to win the war of consciousness so that our reality, our truth, will not be erased by a false narrative, even if it is wrapped in a peace flag.
Originally published by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.