Greta Thunberg denounces Gaza ‘war crimes' after being deported from Israel
Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg was flown home on Tuesday after being deported from Israel where the navy prevented her and fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza with aid.
'We did nothing wrong,' the 22-year-old told reporters after landing in Paris, accusing Israel of kidnapping her.
'We were 12 peaceful volunteers sailing on a civilian ship carrying humanitarian aid on international waters,' she said, speaking of war crimes 'that Israel is systematically committing against Palestinians by not letting aid come to starving people.'
Forces seized their small aid ship, Madleen, which was seeking to break the longstanding naval blockade of Gaza.
Four of those on board, including Thunberg, agreed to immediate deportation, while eight others contested the repatriation order. They have been detained near Tel Aviv airport awaiting a court hearing on their legal status; among them are Rima Hassan, a French member of the European parliament.
"We were well aware of the risks of this mission,' Ms Thunberg added. 'The aim was to get to Gaza and to be able to distribute the aid.'
Israel has imposed a rigid land, air and sea blockade on Gaza, saying the shutdown is needed to prevent arms from reaching Hamas militants. It lets in limited supplies of food that are mainly distributed by a private group it backs.
Israel has dismissed the sea mission as a publicity stunt.
'Greta and her friends brought in a tiny amount of aid on their celebrity yacht. It did not help the people of Gaza. This was nothing but a ridiculous gimmick,' foreign minister Gideon Saar said.
He said the supplies aboard the yacht would be transferred to Gaza through 'real humanitarian channels.'
Thunberg defended the aid effort, organised by a pro-Palestinian group called the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, saying a larger boat that could carry a bigger cargo was disabled last month in the Mediterranean by drones allegedly operated by Israel.
She also laughed off criticism from Donald Trump, who had described her overnight as an 'angry' and 'strange' person, saying: 'I think the world needs a lot more young angry women to be honest, especially with everything going on right now.'
Thunberg, who headed onwards to Sweden, travels mostly by train and has long shunned airplanes because of their hefty carbon emissions. In 2019, she crossed the Atlantic by boat to attend a climate summit.
In March, Israel imposed a total blockade of all supplies reaching Gaza, which experts say has driven the population of more than two million to the brink of famine.
Over the past two weeks Israel has allowed in limited food supplies largely distributed by a new Israeli-backed group. Israel says the step is necessary to prevent Hamas from diverting aid. Hamas has denied stealing aid.
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In an email response to residents, Butt said he wanted to "acknowledge the pain and trauma that continue to affect Jewish communities both here in Brent and around the world following the horrific terrorist attacks committed by Hamas on October 7th".He said the decision to twin did not represent "support for any political group or administration in Nablus"."Rather, it reflects Brent's humanitarian values and a desire to connect with ordinary people in another part of the world who, like us, strive for peace, education, dignity, and progress for the next generation," he said. Nablus sits in the West Bank, a landlocked territory illegally occupied by Israel in a war in 1967, along with the Gaza Strip. Hamas has controlled Gaza, while Fatah administers most of the West Bank. 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"When the motion was first put forward back in November, I proposed a counter motion that Brent should twin with a city or town possibly in Israel which had a mixed Jewish, Arab, Christian community."I'm not opposed to twinning with any particular cities, but I think Nablus is particularly dangerous." On Tuesday, the Israeli army launched a raid on the city, killing two Palestinians according to the Palestinian ministry of health. The Israeli army said it was undertaking a counterterrorism ministers have recently approved new Jewish settlements which are widely seen as illegal under international law, though Israel disputes said twinning was also a question of exchange visits. "In other words, we will go to them and stay with them and take part in their programme and they can come to us and take part in our programmes but it would be very dangerous for us to go there."The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office travel currently advises against all but essential travel to Nablus. Motasem Zaid, a Palestinian engineer who lives in Brent, said he was overwhelmed by the support and solidarity he was shown by people in the believed twinning was about forming a long-term relationship that would last beyond the conflict."It can be and it will be hopefully beneficial for both communities economically, culturally, even with the exchange between the educational institutions between the two communities," he said."The twinning is not meant to exclude anyone. It's meant to do the opposite, it's meant to include everyone."It's not going to cost the council or the taxpayer anything. So to me, if I'm taking this solidarity part out of the equation, it's a risk-free investment."Jewish resident Ian Collier said the twinning was not started the petition against the decision and is calling on the council to reconsider. "Everybody that I spoke to was quite disgusted, as I was, about the idea and the concept," he said."We felt it was just totally out of character with what a council should be doing for its residents."We don't believe it's in the interest of some elements of the community and it does put a number of people in the community at physical harm."At the last count, there were 3,700 Jews living in Brent. I believe that each and everyone of them will feel more threatened because of any particular influence that people in Brent, or worse still the children of people in Brent, receive from having correspondence or interaction with the people of Nablus." Retired GP Jonathan Fluxman, who represents a different Jewish voice in Brent, said twinning would foster understanding."We've heard the stories over and over again," he said. "Othering of Palestinians, of Arabs, of people from the Middle East. 'They're not like us. They don't share our values'. "I think that's nonsense. We are all human beings. We all share a common humanity, and what we need to do is interact with each other and understand each other."There's been a lot of talk about Jewish fears of safety and being made uncomfortable. I have no sense of fear about this." According to the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) the UK has approximately 2,000 twinning links, which are legal or social agreements between two cities, towns or villages, to boost trade and tourism, promote peace and cultural exchange. The LGIU said such arrangements were "good for fostering business connections and mutually beneficial economic partnerships".Brent has also been twinned with South Dublin County Council since 1997.
