Greta Thunberg and the ship that sailed

In 2018, when Greta Thunberg was first recognized for speaking out about the dangerous effects of climate change, many people admired the plucky teenager for her impassioned calls for action. With a goal of saving our planet, she seemed to have a genuine concern about an issue that potentially impacted every living being in the universe.

But when the pro-Palestinian movement dominated the headlines and when the keffiyeh became fashionable, Greta quickly abandoned her original mission, donned the black and white scarf, and ditched her green agenda to support the terrorists wearing the green headbands.

In fact, soon after the Oct. 7 massacre and before Israel had even begun their ground operations, Greta was seen holding a sign that said, “Stand with Gaza.” In 2024, the American non-profit group StopAntisemitism gave her the ignominious title of “antisemite of the week.”

Indeed, one wonders how much time she spent educating herself about Israel’s history, the Palestinians’ history, and the conflict. But with no moral clarity and most likely little knowledge, Greta was onboard.

In 2025, with a boatload of arrogance, Greta twice joined a “humanitarian” flotilla that sailed to the Gaza Strip. Dubbed the “selfie yacht”, the ship that Greta sailed on epitomized the performative activism and self-aggrandizement of its passengers.

Unfortunately for Greta, her face was not one that launched a thousand ships, but it was, however, one that launched a thousand memes. She quickly became an object of mockery, as people on the internet could not resist coming up with meme after meme of Greta jokes.

While on the ship, Greta made videos in which she feigned concern that Israel would “kidnap” her and hold her “hostage”, terms that she knew would evoke outrage due to the actual kidnapped victims that were still being held hostage at the time.

Although she wanted to present herself as a brave warrior putting herself in danger by facing the Israelis, her journey actually required very little courage. Bravery would have been required if she had traveled to protest in countries that deny their citizens human rights, countries such as China, Russia, North Korea, or Iran. Instead, her journey took her to the only country in the middle east where people can write the most scathing articles about their country’s leader and live to write another day.

Also sailing with Greta was queer Tunisian activist, Saif Ayadi who said that he sailed to help the Palestinian people. Perhaps he was unaware that according to the Pew Research Center, Palestinians are among the world’s most anti-LGBTQ+ people, with 93% opposing them. In addition, Forbes named “Palestine” one of the worst “countries” in the world for LGBTQ+ travelers.

When Greta and her shipmates arrived, before taking them into custody for violating the naval blockade, the Israelis provided them with bottles of water and sandwiches.

They then played the film showing the atrocities of Oct. 7, yet Greta refused to watch it. By turning her back when the film was shown, she revealed that she was neither brave enough to watch the real-life horror show, nor willing to learn the truth.

The first flotilla carried a token amount of food and aid, but the Israeli ministry said, “These individuals, who arrived under the guise of ‘humanitarian aid,’ made it clear—through their actions, their rejection of all proposals by Israel, Italy, and Greece to peacefully transfer the aid, and the small quantity of aid they actually carried on their boats—that their true goal was provocation in the service of Hamas, not humanitarian assistance.”

In October, the second flotilla carried no aid at all, making it even more apparent that Greta’s aims were to get attention and increase social media feeds.

Ironically, if Greta had remained a steadfast advocate for tackling climate change, she would have praised Israel, the only country in the world to enter the 21st century with more trees than it had in the 20th century. The Jewish National Fund (JNF) and other organizations have planted more than 250 million trees since 1900.

Treating and reusing almost 90% of its wastewater, Israel is the #1 recycler of water in the world, and by inventing the drip irrigation system that conserves water, reduces pollution, and uses less energy, Israel has revolutionized agriculture around the globe.

In September, Israeli researchers developed a way to turn undesirable apples into a nutrient-rich powder. By mitigating food waste across the supply chain, this innovation could help create a more sustainable food system.

Whereas Israel works towards environmental improvements, the Palestinians have done quite the opposite. When the Gaza Strip was under Israel’s control, they built technologically advanced greenhouses. In 2005, when Israel voluntarily withdrew from the strip, they left the greenhouses intact, but Hamas destroyed them in order to build terror tunnels that had a deleterious effect on the environment.

One of Greta Thunberg’s most famous quotes is: “Our house is on fire.” However, if she wants to speak of fires, she should call out Hamas for intentionally starting them and polluting the air and water. From 2018 through 2023, the terrorist group sent into Israel fire kites and fire balloons that set ablaze thousands of acres of fields, forests, and nature reserves.

It turns out that Greta’s main objective is not publicizing the effects of climate change but instead publicizing herself. Indeed, her convictions are as lacking as the aid on the flotilla, and in terms of her regaining any widespread respect, regrettably for Greta, that ship has sailed.