Israel omits mention of Greta Thunberg from school's curriculum after 'stand with Gaza' row

Israel announced that it will remove all references to Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg from its school curriculum after the 20-year-old expressed support for Gaza amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. In a scathing attack against Thunberg, the Israeli education ministry said that Thunberg has disqualified herself from being an “educational role model”, The Telegraph reported. Earlier this week, the climate activist garnered attention after she was photographed holding up a sign that read “Stand with Gaza”.

“Hamas is a terrorist organisation responsible for the murder of 1,400 innocent Israelis, including children, women, and the elderly, and it has abducted over 200 people to Gaza,” the ministry said on Wednesday. “This stance disqualifies her from being an educational and moral role model, and she is no longer eligible to serve as an inspiration and educator for Israeli students,” the body furthered. The move came days after Thunberg posted a photo of herself and three other activists on X, formally known as Twitter. “Week 270. 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,” the Swedish activist captioned the image.

Thunberg and her ‘anti-semitic’ octopus toy

Earlier this week, Thunberg received heavy backlash for sharing the same photograph with an octopus-stuffed toy in the back. Several Israelis claimed that the octopus toy represented the symbol of an anti-Jewish propaganda cartoon that was being used in the Nazi era. The Time “Person of the Year” honoree later deleted the photo, replacing it with an almost identical one. “It has come to my knowledge that the stuffed animal shown in my earlier post can be interpreted as a symbol of antisemitism, which I was completely unaware of. The toy in the picture is a tool often used by autistic people as a way to communicate feelings. We are of course against any type of discrimination, and condemn antisemitism in all forms and shapes. This is non-negotiable. That is why I deleted the last post,” Thunberg wrote in a follow-up tweet.

Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Arye Sharuz Shalicar told Politico that “whoever identifies with Greta in any way in the future, in my view, is a terror supporter." “Because what Greta is doing, that she is now showing solidarity with Gaza while not saying a word about the massacres of Israelis, shows that she is not in favour of the Palestinians, but that she is sweeping the terror of the Palestinians or Hamas and Islamic Jihad under the table as if it did not exist,” he added.