Why do I salute Greta Thunberg?

CLIMATE activist Greta Thunberg is not a Palestinian. She is not a Muslim. She is a Swedish citizen, but she risked her life to expose the ‘systematic genocide’ of over two million people in Gaza. She boarded an aid ship -- the Madleen -- last Sunday from Italy to break the illegal blockade of Gaza by Israel. Ultimately, she was arrested in international waters by Israel and deported to Sweden. After returning to Stockholm, she was asked by reporters if she was scared when Israeli commandos arrested her. Thunberg replied, “What I am afraid of is that people are silent during the ongoing genocide in Gaza”.

I want to salute Greta Thunberg and all those who accompanied her on the aid ship for Gaza. I salute 22-year-old Thunberg because she is braver and bolder than many powerful Muslim rulers who only condemned Israeli bombings in Gaza by making some statements and never took any practical steps to break the illegal blockade of Gaza by Israel.

Thunberg and some other activists risked their lives by challenging the illegal blockade of Gaza by Israel and exposed the hypocrisy of international powers that pay lip service to human rights. Thunberg planned to board the Gaza Freedom Flotilla at a Maltese port in May 2025. This plan was cancelled when Israeli drones attacked the boat.

This time, Greta Thunberg was accompanied by actor Liam Cunningham, French member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, and eleven other activists. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition organised this journey.

Thunberg is the prime target of Israeli and Indian media these days who are accusing her of supporting terrorism. Israeli media is behaving like Indian media, blaming others for hiding their own state-sponsored terrorism. Israeli newspapers and TV channels are in a state of hysteria regarding Greta Thunberg.

I would like to draw readers’ attention to an editorial published by Israeli newspaper ‘Jerusalem Post’ against Greta Thunberg on June 9, 2025. The editorial headline -- biased in its messaging -- says: “Greta’s Gaza Voyage: A symbol of selective empathy”. The paper is very angry with Greta Thunberg for continuously raising her voice against the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The Jerusalem Post claims that Thunberg isn’t malicious, just willfully blind, and that in her zeal to defend Gaza, “she’s become a symbol of selective empathy, ignoring the brutal reality that Hamas brutalises its own people. The child who once stood for the planet now stands, knowingly or not, with a terror regime”.

Another Israeli newspaper, the Times of Israel, declared Greta Thunberg a pro-terror activist. Israeli media has also been trying to question the connection between climate justice and Gaza. We need to respond to this question and expose the dishonesty and lies of the Israeli media, not only against Greta Thunberg but also about the Palestine issue.

Thunberg is not selective about Palestinian rights. She wrote an article in The Guardian in 2023 and explained about a connection between climate justice and human rights. She said: “Advocating for climate justice fundamentally comes from a place of caring about people and their human rights. That means speaking up when people suffer, are forced to flee their homes or are killed – regardless of the cause. It is the same reason why we have always held strikes in solidarity with marginalised groups – including those in Sapmi, Kurdistan, Ukraine and many other places – and their struggles for justice against imperialism and oppression. Our solidarity with Palestine is no different, and we refuse to let the public focus shift away from the horrifying human suffering that Palestinians are currently facing.”

Thunberg clearly explained that there is no climate justice without human rights. It was not easy for her to take a stance against Israel. She was arrested again and again in different European capitals for raising her voice in support of Palestinians. And she is also not interested in the Nobel Peace Prize. Her only concern is protecting Palestinian children and women from Israeli bombing. The total death toll from Israel’s bombing in Gaza has crossed 55,000, with more than 127,000 injured. Half of them are children and women. The Israeli Army has killed more than 200 journalists in Gaza since October 2023. The Israeli state turned Gaza into a human slaughterhouse. Greta Thunberg is only speaking up against this genocide loudly. In 2019, she wrote a book titled ‘No one is too small to make a difference’. She definitely made a difference by telling the world that sometimes, a few unarmed activists can be more effective than international bodies like the United Nations and the OIC.

Importantly, Greta Thunberg is not against Jews. There are many Jews who condemn the Israeli bombing in Gaza. Many Jews have also supported Thunberg’s stance against Israel. Thunberg does not demand anything different from many UN experts -- immediate international intervention to stop the genocide in Gaza. Thunberg has only exposed the absence of an international intervention. The UN Security Council passed a resolution in March 2024 for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Greta Thunberg is demanding the same in 2025. The genocide in Gaza is no longer a religious or political issue. It is a humanitarian issue. It is the biggest tragedy since the Second World War.

This tragedy reminds me of the letter from the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, written to US President Truman in December 1947. He said: “At this hour when the Muslim world has received a terrible shock owing to the most unfortunate decision of the United Nations Organization to enforce [the] partition of Palestine, I would like to address to you, Mr President, this personal appeal. ...The decision is ultra vires of the United Nations charter and basically wrong and invalid in law.... In the long run it will and must fail. The very people for whose benefit this decision is taken -- the Jews, who have already suffered terribly from Nazi persecution -- will I greatly fear, suffer most if this unjust course is pursued. Moreover the decision presents a great danger to world peace.”

Muhammad Ali Jinnah proved correct. The state of Israel has become a threat to peace in the whole region. Israel is not even implementing the UN resolution which created that state -- UN Resolution 181, which proposed a two state solution, both Arab and Jewish states, and Jerusalem under international control.

Israel’s actions, including the occupation of Jerusalem and the blockade of Gaza, are clear violations of UN Resolution 181. The activism of Greta Thunberg only reminded us that the UN is not in a position to implement its resolutions from Palestine to Kashmir. Israel is not fighting terrorism in Gaza. Some big arms companies are profiting from the Gaza genocide. A ceasefire in Gaza will stop their money-making business.

Greta Thunberg is a hope for Palestinians and all the oppressed people in the world. If we cannot act bravely like her, we can at least support her loudly and salute her publicly.