Greta Thunberg's desire and motivation to be completely impartial and to walk the walk rather than simply talk the talk has tended to get her into hot water which, for me, deserves all the praise in the world. She would make a great politician and I hope that one day she goes into politics because politics needs cleaning up and she's the kind of person to do it.
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| Greta Thunberg with poster. She is now persona non grata with Israel. Image: Twitter. |
On this occasion, she was not supporting climate change activists which is her forte and which has put her in jail on occasions; she bravely posted a pro-Palestinian message on social media last Friday. It featured a photograph of herself and three other campaigners.
One campaigner held a sign saying "Free Palestine". Another held a sign which said "This Jew stands with Palestine" and fourth called for "Climate justice now".
The caption on Thunberg's Twitter X post said: "Today we strike in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza. The world needs to speak up and call for an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for Palestinians and/or civilians affected."
In response, Israel's Foreign Ministry said: "Greta Thunberg, Hamas doesn't use sustainable materials for their rockets which have butchered innocent Israelis. The victims of the Hamas massacre could have been your friends. Speak up."
She replied: "It goes without saying - or so I thought - that I am against the horrific attacks by Hamas."
As I said, she is impartial and balanced. She just wants the truth and she wants things done right and she doesn't like to see injustice.
Israel's education ministry has announced that Thunberg is now disqualified from being portrayed as "an educational role models" in the Israeli school curriculum.
Officials described her position as outrageous and "[an] apparent inability to differentiate between good and evil".
They say that she is disqualified from representing "the forces that strive for positive change in the world. Her image cannot be a model for our students, many of whom saw her as [an] inspiration."
Comment: Israel is so defensive emotionally about what they are doing. They just cannot take any criticism whatsoever. Thunberg is being fair and honest in my view. Israel should be prepared to accept criticism when deserved. Hamas have been barbaric. Israel's response has been too destructive.
Another high-profile person to criticise Israel indirectly in an effort to assess the current war fairly is UN chief Antonio Guterres who has put the war into context as he sees it.
He said that the Hamas raid "didn't happen in a vacuum". In a rapid response to that, Israel has called for the UN's Secretary General to resign or be sacked. Once again, a very defensive response to a respected person trying to discuss this horrible war in a balanced way.
Antonio Guterres also said that: "The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. The grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people."
Eli Cohen, the Israeli Foreign Minister cancelled a meeting with him and asked: "Mr Secretary-General, in what world do you live?"
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