Greta Thunberg said last night that she was not aware that some of those involved in the ‘freedom flotilla’ voyage had previously shown support for Hamas and Hezbollah.
‘I haven’t heard about it or what this person has said,’ the 22-year-old activist told Swedish media as she landed back in her home country.
When asked why she did not know about the views of people she was travelling with, she said: ‘Because I haven’t had a phone.’
She was then challenged by reporters who asked why she had not looked into the issue before she set off on the ship bound for Gaza.
‘Should I ask exactly everyone what exactly they have said about everything?’ she then asked curtly. ‘It would take some time.’
Zaher Birawi, who organised the mission on the British-flagged ship, was accused of being a ‘Hamas operative’ by Labour MP Christian Wakefield in 2023.
Birawi, who is based in London and describes himself as a ‘founding member’ of the Freedom Flotilla International Coalition, has also been labelled as such by Israel.
He is the head of the Europal Forum, which Israel designated as a terrorist organisation in 2021, and has previously been pictured with Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas leader who was assassinated by Israel last year.
Meanwhile an activist who travelled on the Madleen aid boat, Brazilian national Thiago Avila, reportedly attended Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral in Beirut last year, and wrote on social media that he was ‘inspired’ by the Lebanese terrorist chief.
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg talks to journalists as she arrives at Arlanda airport outside Stockholm
She was welcomed at Arlanda Airport in Stockholm by crowds waving Palestinian flags
Of the 12 people on board the sailing boat Madleen, two French nationals agreed to be deported on June 10, while four others declined pending a court decision. Pictured: Thunberg was greeted by around 30 cheering supporters waving Palestinian flags amid a large media presence at the airport
The Madleen, which sailed towards Gaza to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis in the territory
Thunberg’s comments came as she landed in Sweden at around 10.30pm Tuesday night after a brief stop in France following her deportation from Israel.
She was welcomed at Arlanda Airport in Stockholm by dozens of people waving Palestinian flags, who presented her with flowers and a keffiyeh scarf as they shouted ‘free Palestine!’
Of the 12 activists on board the Madleen, four including Thunberg agreed to be deported immediately, while all of them have been banned from Israel for 100 years, the rights group that legally represents some of them said in a statement.
The remaining eight were taken into custody after they refused to leave Israel voluntarily, and brought before a detention review tribunal on Tuesday, rights group Adalah added.
Thunberg yesterday vowed to return to the country despite the restrictions apparently placed on her.
The group had set sail towards Gaza carrying what they called a symbolic amount of aid, before being intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off the coast of Egypt early Monday.
They were then taken to the port of Ashdod, where Thunberg was detained before being placed on a flight to France on Tuesday morning.
Asked in Stockholm if she was scared when the security forces boarded the Madleen sailboat, Thunberg replied: ‘What I’m afraid of is that people are silent during an ongoing genocide.’
‘What I feel most is concern for the continued violations of international law and war crimes that Israel is guilty of.’
She accused Israel of carrying out a ‘systematic genocide’ and ‘systematic starvation of over two million people’ in Gaza.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday shared a photo of the disgruntled 22-year-old sitting on board the plane moments before the flight departed Israel’s Ben Gurion airport
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg (R) arrives at Arlanda airport outside Stockholm, Sweden, on June 10, 2025
A surveillance footage shows crew of the Gaza-bound British-flagged yacht ‘Madleen’, put their hands up as they are intercepted by Israeli boats early Monday morning
Several rights groups including Amnesty International have accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza but Israel vehemently rejects the term.
‘We must act, we must demand that our government acts, and we must act ourselves when our complicit governments do not step up,’ Thunberg said.
She rose to fame as a schoolgirl activist against climate change and seeks to avoid flying because of its environmental impact, going so far as to cross the Atlantic by sailboat twice.
Despite her swift deportation, Thunberg was unrepentant. The activist vowed that they ‘would not stop’ trying to help and promised that ‘this is not the end.’
Thunberg told journalists shortly after landing in Paris: ‘What is certain is that we will not stop.
‘We are going to continue try to do everything we can because that is the promise that we have given to to Palestinians.
‘We are going to try every single day in every way that we can and keep trying to demand an end to the atrocities.’
Earlier in the day, Thunberg accused Israel of ‘kidnapping’ her in international waters, a claim she made previously in a dramatic pre-recorded SOS message released shortly after her detention.
But a picture of her smiling as a soldier offered her sandwich after her boat was intercepted quickly went viral.
Thunberg accused Israel of orchestrating a PR stunt following the action.
Speaking on Tuesday, she doubled down: ‘People were not being treated well. I was not able to to say goodbye to people and I don’t know what’s happening. And there were many, many issues’.
Pressed for details on her treatment, she described the experience as ‘very dehumanising,’ though she insisted: ‘But of course, I have to stress nothing compared to what Palestinians are going through. I would prefer not to go into detail’.
Greta Thunberg is pictured at the Israeli port of Ashdod after the Madleen ‘freedom flotilla’ ship was intercepted by Israeli boats on Monday
A general view of the Ashdod Port where the Madleen was towed after being intercepted and where the activists were detained
The Israeli foreign ministry also derided what it called the ‘selfie yacht’ carrying ‘celebrity’ activists, adding that the aid onboard would be transferred to Gaza through what it called ‘real humanitarian channels’
She added: ‘I do know that there were major issues with people actually getting to talk to lawyers.
‘When you look at the state of the world, everything feels meaningless. But unless you try to do everything you can, we lose our hope.’
The activist, who has long eschewed air travel for environment reasons, was photographed on board an aircraft en route to France earlier on Tuesday – a moment that Israel’s Foreign Ministry was quick to publicise, posting the image on social media platform X.
Prior to her deportation, Defence Minister Israel Katz said he’d instructed IDF officials to show the activists the full, unedited footage of the October 7 attacks as recorded by Hamas terrorist body cameras.
‘It is appropriate that the anti-Semitic Greta and her fellow Hamas supporters see exactly who the Hamas terrorist organization they came to support and for whom they work is, what atrocities they committed against women, the elderly, and children, and against whom Israel is fighting to defend itself,’ he said.
Late on Monday night, he told reporters: ‘Greta and her flotilla companions were taken into a room upon their arrival to the screening of the horror film of the October 7 massacre… when they saw what it was about, they refused to continue watching.
‘The anti-Semitic flotilla members are turning a blind eye to the truth and have proven once again that they prefer the murderers to the murdered and continue to ignore the atrocities committed by Hamas against Jewish and Israeli women, adults, and children.’
An image shared by the Israeli Foreign Ministry of what the ministry said were passengers on the Madleen Gaza-bound aid boat being given sandwiches
Thunberg joined 11 activists in sailing to the Gaza Strip with a ‘symbolic’ amount of aid
On June 10, 2025, Israel deported Swedish Greta Thunberg by plane to Sweden via France, after she was arrested on board an aid boat for Gaza with other pro-Palestinian activists who were taken to Ben Gurion airport for deportation
Katz and other Israeli officials have come under fire for branding Thunberg and her fellow activists ‘anti-Semitic’ for wanting to deliver aid to starving Gazans.
But Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said: ‘This wasn’t humanitarian aid. It’s Instagram activism…
‘Who’s really feeding Gaza and who’s really feeding their own ego? Greta was not bringing aid, she was bringing herself.’
Meanwhile, the French government revealed that five of the six French citizens detained alongside Thunberg had refused to sign deportation orders, meaning they will now face judicial proceedings.
US President Donald Trump did not miss the opportunity to wade in on the controversy.
‘I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg. She’s a young, angry person… I think she has to go to an anger management class,’ he said.
Thunberg responded to his comments, saying: ‘I think the world needs a lot of more young, angry women, to be honest, especially with everything going on right now’.
