Sailing ship is not allowed to dock: Report: Israel does not allow Greta Thunberg to enter Gaza

A sailing ship carrying Greta Thunberg and eleven other activists is on its way to Gaza to draw media attention to the suffering of the Palestinians. According to a report, this attempt may fail. The Israeli government has reportedly already banned the ship from docking. There's even a possibility of arrest.

According to an Israeli media report, Greta Thunberg and other activists aboard a sailing ship are not allowed to dock in the Gaza Strip. Israeli security authorities have decided that the group is also not allowed to approach the Palestinian territory, the broadcaster Kan 11 reported. They do not want to set a precedent. Defense Minister Israel Katz and senior military officials are scheduled to discuss further steps on Thursday, according to the broadcaster.

According to the report, it is also possible that the ship could be towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod and the activists on board arrested there. The Israeli government did not initially respond to a request for comment on the report. Israel has also previously denied activists permission to dock their ships in Gaza.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition's sailing ship "Madleen" set sail from Sicily on Sunday. According to the coalition, twelve activists are on board, including Thunberg from Sweden and Yasemin Acar from Germany. The activist group says it intends to bring relief supplies such as baby food and medical supplies to the people in need in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, they hope to use the action to draw international attention to the humanitarian situation there.

One-sided pro-Palestinian positions

Since the Islamist Hamas massacre and hostage-taking in Israel in October 2023 and Israel's subsequent military crackdown in the Gaza Strip, she has repeatedly expressed solidarity with the Palestinians and accused Israel of genocide. Critics, in turn, accuse Thunberg of taking a one-sided pro-Palestinian stance in the Gaza War and the events that triggered it.

The Federal Government's Commissioner for Anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, called Thunberg's statements on the Middle East conflict following the Hamas hostage-taking on October 7, 2023, "anti-Israel and, due to the veiled denial of Israel's right to exist, also anti-Semitic."