{"id":6170,"date":"2023-10-22T05:29:56","date_gmt":"2023-10-22T05:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/?p=6170"},"modified":"2023-12-27T09:44:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T09:44:00","slug":"greta-be-quiet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/en\/politics-security\/greta-be-quiet\/","title":{"rendered":"Greta, Be Quiet."},"content":{"rendered":"

Up until now, Greta Thunberg has been a young, feisty, Swedish activist, primarily concerned with climate change. Today she earned a new title: pro-Palestinian. When Thunberg announced on her Instagram account<\/a> that she \u201cstands by Gaza,\u201d and called for an immediate ceasefire and Palestinian liberation\u2014after remaining radio silent about the deadly terrorist attacks of October 7th<\/sup>\u2014she didn\u2019t only recklessly adopt the wrong side of the ongoing war, but she also inflicted environmental harm. Thunberg connected left-wing, borderline antisemitic views with the very same environmental issues she\u2019s dedicated her life to combat\u2014a connection that is simply incorrect. The environment does not belong to the right or left wing; it belongs to all of us. Oh, Greta, in your own words: How dare you?<\/p>\n

The atrocious massacre that took place along the Gaza Strip rattled the nation and the world, and shocked both environmental activists and climate change deniers alike. The civilian and communal unity Israel has found itself in over the last couple of weeks has undoubtedly crossed sectors, with right and left wing affiliates working tirelessly side by side, both in military bases and in volunteer home fronts. Even without an official poll, it\u2019s easy to see that the overwhelming majority of Israel\u2019s population is hurt, wounded, scared, angry, or all of the above. We all know someone who has been murdered, kidnapped, injured, or called for reserves. And statements like Thunberg\u2019s are a spit in the face of each and every one of these people.<\/p>\n

\"Greta\"
Oh, Greta, in your own words: How dare you? Photo by Arnd Wiegmann, CC BY-NC<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The near-automatic support Thunberg shows in Gaza stems from a woke ideology that implies that if a person supports any political ideology, they must support all of them. If you support the LGBTQ movement, you must also be vegan, and a feminist, and an environmentalist\u2014and blindly support minority rights, without reservations. The problem is that we are human, not stencils. We can support the environment but eat meat. Support LGBTQ rights yet fly abroad every now and again, despite the detrimental ecological impact that stems from burning fossil fuels. And as it pertains to the Gaza Strip, the fact that Palestinians are a minority in a geographical region that includes us and them does not automatically justify their cause, classifying us as the \u201cbad guys.\u201d This complexity is difficult for identity politicians to digest\u2014it is far easier to pose for Instagram holding a sign that says \u201cStand with Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

The environment does not differentiate between left and right<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The environmental issue impacts nearly every aspect of our lives. If our water is contaminated; if we suffer from excessive wildfires, heat waves, storms, earthquakes and tsunamis; if our food is contaminated with toxins; if our green pastures and city streets are filthy; if our nature is being depleted of fruitful animals and plants and is being replaced by invasive species; it impacts all of us\u2014whether we are for a Palestinian state or for the flattening of Gaza into a parking lot.<\/p>\n

It is important to note that environmentalists act across the political spectrum. Obviously, there are climate combat organizations that are affiliated with the political left. But there are also organizations such as \u201cTeva Ivri,\u201d for instance, which promotes Jewish climate responsibility. Or the “Haredim Lasviva” society, which acts to promote sustainability within the Haredi sector. Many environmental organizations don\u2019t belong to any sector, do not represent any group, and do not identify with any political stance as it pertains to the national right or left\u2014their only wish is to aid the environment.<\/p>\n

\"Racheli
Racheli Wacks, Photo by Yael Tzur<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I toured the United States during the time of Donald Trump\u2019s presidency, I saw the full scope and severity<\/a> of the damages that ensue when politics and the environment are conflated. The existence of the climate crisis, at that time in the US, was transformed from being an agreed upon scientific fact to an issue concerned with \u201cright\u201d and \u201cleft\u201d\u2014if you were Republican, you were expected to deny the climate crisis, or at least undermine it. The climate crisis became a controversial dinner conversation subject. This sparked fear amongst the scientists who works for the Trump administration, who didn\u2019t dare uttering the phrase \u201cclimate crisis\u201d\u2014the same people whose responsibility was to prevent the crisis, prepare for it, or shed light on it. We cannot let this happen to us. We must not let this happen anywhere.<\/p>\n

During times of war, the environmental cause gets placed on the backburner\u2014as is appropriate when guns are blazing. But in the future, hopefully the not-so-distant one, we will return to fight for our ecological future. And then, we can only hope that statements like Thunberg made didn\u2019t leave any everlasting damages. In the meantime, all I have to offer Greta (or any other environmentalists and influencers) is the old adage that remains eternally true: if you don\u2019t have anything smart to say, be quiet.<\/p>\n

Racheli Wacks is the editor-in-chief of <\/strong>ZAVIT \u2013 The News Agency of the Israel Society of Ecology and Environmental Sciences<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This ZAVIT Article was also published in Ynetnews<\/a> on 22 October 2023<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Up until now, Greta Thunberg has been a young, feisty, Swedish activist, primarily concerned with climate change. Today she earned …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":6173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27],"tags":[],"acf":[],"post-meta-fields":{"_edit_last":["166"],"_edit_lock":["1703670100:166"],"_wpml_media_featured":["1"],"_wpml_media_duplicate":["1"],"subtitle":["Climate activist Greta Thunberg\u2019s outrageous support of Gaza, while completely ignoring the massacre Hamas inflicted upon Israel, creates damage that isn\u2019t only political, but environmental. The environment does not belong to the right or left wing; it belongs to all of us. Greta, how dare you?"],"_subtitle":["field_59d3d36ea7fe1"],"_thumbnail_id":["6173"],"locked":[""],"_locked":["field_59c580022966e"],"locked_by":[""],"_locked_by":["field_59c58088feda8"],"locked_when":[""],"_locked_when":["field_59c7bb3d62d43"],"locked_by_id":[""],"_locked_by_id":["field_59cebde97482b"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6170"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6170"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6265,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6170\/revisions\/6265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zavit.org.il\/intl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}