Greta Thunberg’s Descent from Climate Darling to Militant Pro-Palestine Activist

Not so long ago, Greta Thunberg was fêted by the great and the good and anyone criticising her was immediately labelled a misogynistic bully. Her expertise in climate science was beyond question, despite leaving school at 14. But now that she has became a profanity-spewing, militant pro-Palestine activist, her old fans are left looking like credulous fools. Marianka Swain in the Telegraph has more.

In 2019, Time magazine named Greta Thunberg its youngest-ever Person of the Year, as world leaders and commentators all hastened to bask in the reflected glory of this new environmental star. Thunberg’s powerful influence was even dubbed the “Greta effect” thanks to thousands of students remaking themselves in her climate-warrior image. But, five years on, that blind hero worship of an increasingly militant Thunberg looks naïve at best and dangerous at worst.

Speaking at a rally in the German city of Mannheim on Friday, Thunberg, 21, was a far cry from that angelic Time cover, which followed a keynote speech delivered to the UN in September 2019. “F— Germany,” she said into the microphone on Friday, before descending into giggles as the 700-strong crowd of protesters whooped and clapped. Thunberg added: “And f— Israel.”

The event was billed as a Palestine and climate movement solidarity rally, but the profanity-spewing Swede seemed most intent on stoking anger towards other nations. Thunberg was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times between 2019 and 2023. She probably shouldn’t hold out hope for a sixth nod.

It puts figures such as Barack Obama, Ed Miliband, now the Energy Secretary, and António Guterres, the UN Secretary General, in an embarrassing position after fervently backing Thunberg – even if that meant overlooking some of her more uncompromising views and tactics. Others feel vindicated in having voiced opposition.

“Not so long ago, anyone breathing a word of criticism against St. Greta was immediately labelled a misogynistic bully and a climate change denier,” recalls Toby Young, Director of the Free Speech Union. “I myself was on the receiving end of a mobbing on social media for questioning her expertise in climate science, given that she left school at the age of 14. Now, it looks very much as if the heretics were right and the worshippers were credulous fools.”

One former Cabinet Minister says: “There’s been a whole lot of groupthink around the issue of climate change where everyone competed to wear the biggest hair shirt and shut down the most industries in order to placate people who worshipped Greta Thunberg. But those policies are having a major impact on the economy. If I had the choice of listening to Greta Thunberg or to someone facing redundancy, I know who I’d listen to.”

A media advisor who has worked with Labour says: “It illustrates the danger of using a wild card like Greta – she might fit some of your messaging, or reach different audiences, but you have no control. Now she’s showing her full contempt for democracy and the rule of law. She’s left a lot of people with egg on their faces.”

Thunberg’s remarks at the Mannheim rally drew blistering criticism. German politician Manuel Hagel told the Jerusalem Post that Thunberg was “moving very consciously in close proximity to anti-Semitism”, while American campaign group StopAntisemitism labelled Thunberg a “climate activist turned Hamas shill”. They added: “Someone should remind Greta that Israel is a global leader in solving the climate challenge.”

But it seems that Thunberg is no longer interested in such nuance, nor in the delicate work of global diplomacy. Instead she has embraced thuggish, even criminal, tactics.

Worth reading in full.