Greta Thunberg and three other activists from the “freedom flotilla” have been deported and is currently on a flight out of Israel after they refused to watch video footage of Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023. The activists were part of the crew aboard the Madleen ship, which had planned to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
However, before reaching the coast, the vessel was intercepted by Israeli forces and escorted to the port of Ashdod. Of the 12 activists, eight declined to sign deportation documents and are now in custody awaiting a court hearing. Thunberg and the three others agreed to the terms and were allowed to leave the country.
Humiliated and Thrown Out of Israel
X
Greta is set to travel to France with a group of French activists before making her way back to Sweden. “‘I do more good outside of Israel than if I am forced to stay here for a few weeks,” Greta reportedly said, according to Moatasem Zedan, a spokesperson for the human rights organization Adalah, which is representing the activists legally.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry later released a photo showing the visibly unhappy 22-year-old seated on the plane just before takeoff from Ben Gurion Airport.
X
Before her deportation, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that he had ordered IDF officials to present the activists with the complete, unedited footage of the October 7 attacks, as captured by Hamas fighters’ body cameras.
“It is appropriate that the anti-Semitic Greta and her fellow Hamas supporters see exactly who the Hamas terrorist organization they came to support and for whom they work is, what atrocities they committed against women, the elderly, and children, and against whom Israel is fighting to defend itself,” he said.
On Monday night, he told reporters: “Greta and her flotilla companions were taken into a room upon their arrival to the screening of the horror film of the October 7 massacre… when they saw what it was about, they refused to continue watching.
X
“The anti-Semitic flotilla members are turning a blind eye to the truth and have proven once again that they prefer the murderers to the murdered and continue to ignore the atrocities committed by Hamas against Jewish and Israeli women, adults, and children.”
Israel’s No Tolerance Policy
Katz and several other Israeli officials have faced criticism for labeling Thunberg and the other activists as “anti-Semitic” due to their efforts to bring aid to hungry residents in Gaza. However, Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer dismissed the mission, saying, “This wasn’t about humanitarian aid. It’s Instagram activism…
X
“Who’s really feeding Gaza and who’s really feeding their own ego? Greta was not bringing aid, she was bringing herself.”
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), an organization founded soon after October 7, 2023, to bring attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, organized the Madleen’s journey from the Italian island of Sicily to Gaza.
X
Israel’s military campaign in the beleaguered territory, which the activists say amounted to genocide, and Israel’s limits on humanitarian supplies entering the area were the reasons for their protest.
About 2 million Palestinians live in an area at risk of starvation because to Israel’s military actions and assistance restrictions.
The FFC said that the activists were ‘kidnapped by Israeli soldiers’ on Monday while trying to provide much-needed aid. “The ship was unlawfully boarded, its unarmed civilian crew abducted and its life-saving cargo—including baby formula, food, and medical supplies—confiscated,” it said in a statement.
