The Israeli Ministry of Education will remove laudatory mentions of Greta Thunberg from the nation’s public-school curriculum after the Swedish climate activist published her support for Gaza in a social media post, without condemning Hamas.
Israel's Ministry of Education called Thunberg’s support for Gaza “biased and one-sided" and said, while it would continue to highlight the campaigner's contribution to the environmental movement, it would no longer highlight her as a "role model" to pupils.
Last Friday, the climate crisis activist posted a photo of herself and several other people on X/Twitter holding up signs reading “Free Palestine”, “Stand with Gaza”, “This Jew Stands with Palestine”, and “Climate Justice Now”.
In the caption accompanying the photo, Thunberg wrote: “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 all civilians affected.”
In response, the official X account for Israel wrote: “Greta, 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.”
The Ministry of Education then announced it would be pulling material from the school curriculum that portrays Thunberg, 20, as "a role model or a source of inspiration”.
It said in a statement: “Following Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg’s biased and one-sided support for Gaza, without condemning Hamas, the Ministry of Education has decided to remove educational resources that portray her as a role model or a source of inspiration."
The statement continued: “Her outrageous stance and apparent inability to differentiate between good and evil disqualify her from representing the forces that strive for positive change in the world.”
It added: “Her image cannot be a model for our students, many of whom saw her as inspiration. It is important to clarify that we do not erase her contribution to the history of the global environmental movement, but rather, we are satisfied with the factual mention of her contribution, along with many other activists.”
Thunberg published a follow-up post on Saturday, two weeks after the terror attacks, addressing the backlash to her initial tweet: “It goes without saying – or so I thought – that I’m against the horrific attacks by Hamas. As I said, ‘The world needs to speak up and call for an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for Palestinians and all civilians affected.’ #StandWithPalestine”.
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