Israel has shared a photo of Greta Thunberg being deported after the Gaza-bound ship she was on was seized by the country’s military yesterday morning.
22-year-old Greta was one of a dozen activists aboard the British-flagged yacht Madleen, which set sail from Sicily on 1 May on a mission aiming to break Israel’s sea blockade of Gaza and deliver essential supplies to Palestinians.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said he’d instructed IDF officials to show Greta and co the full, unedited footage of the October 7 attacks as recorded by Hamas body cameras.
However, Greta and her shipmates refused to watch the footage, which I suppose makes sense. I mean, it’s not like they’re going to watch the horrific events of October 7 and suddenly think “oh OK, that totally justifies the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian men, women and children, every day since.”
It’s actually somewhat surprising that Israel didn’t force them to watch the footage, but I suppose at this stage they need to be careful with their PR given that essentially the entire world is accusing them of war crimes and witnessing the atrocities that they are committing every single day on TikTok, Instagram and other channels.
Of course, Israel sees it differently.
Katz 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.
“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.”
So in hindsight, I’m not sure how we’re supposed to look at this whole Madleen journey to Gaza. It was always inevitable that Israel was going to stop them arriving, seize the boat and either keep them as political prisoners or send them back home. Perhaps the journey was intended to be purely symbolic, and shed more light on the situation in Gaza. Maybe it will prompt more vigilantes out there to attempt the journey themselves?
It’s worth noting that other activists on the boat, including French/Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan, refused to sign deportation papers and will instead be taken to a detention centre in Ramia, central Israel. From what I’m reading this is purely procedural and they’ll eventually process her themselves and send her back home too.
Still, it’s a little surprising that Greta agreed to sign the papers and get sent home early. Surely she’d want to put off getting on a plane and adding to her carbon footprint for as long as possible? Not to mention irritate the Israelis with more paperwork and whatnot. Oh well, I guess the end result is the same at the end of the day.
For the time a furious Jeremy Clarkson accused Greta Thunberg of ‘killing the car show’, click HERE.
