Greta Thonberg is a Swedish environmental activist, born in 2003 in Stockholm, and established the “Jum for the Future” movement, and calls for pressure on world leaders to address the issue of climate change.
It was famous for its positions denouncing the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, and sailed on June 1, 2025 towards the Strip, rejecting the genocide he has been subjected to since October 20, 2023.
Generator
Greta Thonberg was born on January 3, 2003 in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, and she is from an artistic family. Her father, Svante, is an actor and film director, and her mother, Malina Ernman, a singer at the opera, found her to her late father Olof Thonberg who was a famous cinematic actor.
At the age of 11, she had a severe depression that lasted 8 months, accompanied by anorexia, and the doctors diagnosed her and her sister Peta with obsessive -compulsive disorder, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity and optional silence, as well as her “Asperger Syndrome”, which is a disorder in nervous growth that leads to great difficulties in social interaction and communication other than Verbal.
Greta Thonberg finished her secondary education in Sweden schools in 2023.
Environmental activity
Before the Swedish general elections in 2018, Greta Thonberg was absent from the school for 3 weeks, and sat in front of her country’s parliament during school hours, carrying a banner saying “a school strike for climate”.
At that time, the Swedish government called for work to reduce carbon emissions according to the Paris Agreement, which provides for the reduction of global warming to be less than two degrees.
Greta initially moved individually, and said, “I tried to attract people to be with me, but no one was interested, so I had to do the matter on my own,” and over time I inspired tens of thousands of students in most countries of the world to protest against climate change, and her story aroused the attention of international media.
Later, her strike was shortened on Fridays only, and she called him a “collection for the future.” On December 4, 2018, it delivered a speech at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change Convention in the Polish city of Boznan, and expressed the urgent need to move as soon as possible to stop emissions.
In December 2018, with tens of thousands of environmental supporters participated in a demonstration in the Belgian capital, Brussels, in protest against climate policies, and to demand a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030.
On January 23, 2019, she traveled on a 32 -hour train trip to Switzerland to deliver a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, on facing climate change.
On February 21 of the same year, she demanded in a speech at the European Economic and Social Committee conference to achieve the climate goals scheduled by the European Union to reduce carbon dioxide emissions at least 80% until 2030.
On April 17, 2019, Pope Francesco, the former Pope of the Vatican, met at St. Peter Square in Rome and thanked his interest in the climate crisis and his defense of the environment.
On September 23, 2019, I addressed the world leaders gathered at the United Nations, at the climate summit, saying, “How do you dare?
“You claim that you love your children more than anything else, but at the same time you steal their future in front of their eyes,” she added in her speech.
On the same day, with 15 minors filed a lawsuit with the United Nations Children’s Rights Committee against 5 countries it said was “contaminated.”
It delivered a speech at the 25th Conference of the Parties, which was held in the Spanish capital Madrid from 2 to 13 December 2019, warning of the dangers of failure to happen to the climate and ignoring scientific evidence about it.
In late 2019, the Koreona Greta Thonberg virus was forced to find new means to deliver its voice to the world, and she launched a radio program entitled “Humanity has not failed yet.”
In April 2020, in cooperation with the Danish “Human Ak” organization, a campaign to support the efforts of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was launched in combating the Korona and protecting children from its effects.
She also talked about climate change issues in front of the parliaments of several countries, most notably Italy, France and the United Kingdom, as well as their participation in global protests on this.
The Swedish activist refuses to travel with aircraft due to the carbon emissions it produces, and says, “It is unreasonable that many of the characters talking about the climate travel on a private plane.”
This led to the emergence of a new term known as “the shame of the aviation”, which reduced the number of local flights in Sweden by 8%, and raised the number of those who prefer to travel by train.
Her solidarity with Gaza
Greta Thonberg expressed its solidarity with the Gaza Strip in the face of the aggression launched by Israel on October 7, 2023, and participated in demonstrations condemning the occupation and supporting the Palestinians.
The Swedish activist described what is happening in Gaza as genocide, and said in October 2023, “Today we are setting in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza, and the world must raise his voice, and call for an immediate ceasefire, and the achievement of justice and freedom for the Palestinians and all the affected civilians.”
And she raised banners in which she condemned the massacres committed by the Israeli occupation, and wrote on it, “Stop the genocide in Gaza.”
On January 5, 2024, a picture of the environmental activists was published carrying Palestinian flags and slogans “freedom for Palestine” during their protests against the crimes of the Israeli occupation.
Against the background of its positions strongly attacked the Israeli media, and charged her with anti -Semitism, which prompted the Israeli Ministry of Education to remove its name from the curricula concerned with the climate, and the ministry said in November 2023 that “Greta’s position does not make it a source of inspiration, and it is no longer a role model for Israeli students.”
The Israeli anger doubled the presence of a sign in the photo published in the name of “Jews for the Freedom of Palestine”, and activists supporting Israel demanded that Israel reveal the face of the masked banner.
On May 12, 2024, the Swedish police arrested her for participating in a supporter protest of the Palestinians outside the Malmo Square, which was hosting the European song competition 2024.
On September 4 of the same year, she was arrested in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, while participating in a demonstration in support of Gaza.
On November 1, 2024, American presidential candidate Kamala Harris criticized her that her “hands are stained with blood” because of her support for genocide in Gaza.
Greta was harassed in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, while delivering a speech in support of Palestine in a protest demonstration on climate change, as a young microphone was withdrawn from her, saying to her, “We came to discuss the climate crisis and not to present political views.”
Activists of the “Justice of the Climate” movement responded to the incident, with a statement in which they said that “standing in solidarity with the Palestinians and all affected civilians was never in doubt for us.”
Criticism and arrests
Many criticize the activity of Greta Thonberg, and they say that it “intends to exaggerate the risks caused by the issue of the high temperature of the earth,” which exposed it to prosecution and arrest.
In January 2023, German police arrested it with other activists in protests organized against the background of the German authorities demolishing a small village to expand a coal mine.
On April 6, 2023, the Dutch police arrested her in a major demonstration in the city of The Hague, to demand an end to all forms of support for the use of fossil fuels.
On June 19 of the same year, Swedish police were arrested in an environmental demonstration in Malmo Port, in the south of the country, and imposed a fine.
In February 2024, she appeared before a British court, on charges of “disturbing public order”, a few months after she was accused of disrupting a meeting of executives in the oil and gas sector.
Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized her, and said in an interview with the Energy Forum in Moscow on October 4, 2019 that her “demands are unrealistic”, and that she is “unpopular” on the climate issue.
She was also criticized by several US President Donald Trump. On September 23, 2019, he criticized her speech to world leaders gathered at the United Nations Climate Summit, and published a satirical tweet about her on X, in which he wrote, “She looks a very happy young woman looking towards a wonderful and smiling future. It is very wonderful to watch it.”
Trump also described the coronation of American Time magazine Greta as the title of 2019, as “farce”, adding that “Greta must learn to control her anger, calm down and watch an old movie.”
Less than a year later, Trump’s Thonberg responded to when she responded to a tweet that he published and said, “Stop counting votes” by using his tweet, in which he mocked her for the Time Magazine award.
The Swedish activist addressed Trump to Trump, saying, “It is very ridiculous, he must learn to control his anger, then move to his scenes an old beautiful movie with a friend!
Trump returned to attack her a third time after the Israeli authorities arrested her from the Madeleine ship. “She is a strange person … an angry young woman … I do not know if that anger is real, it is difficult to believe that … it is definitely different,” he added, adding that she “needs a course to deal with anger.”
On the Madeleine ship
On June 1, 2025 Greta Thonberg sailed with 12 other activists within the Madeleine ship, which was carrying humanitarian aid towards the Gaza Strip, but Israel was seized by the dawn of June 9, while it was on international waters on its way to Gaza.
The Israeli occupation forces arrested Greta, and later the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs deployed a picture of it on the “X” platform on a plane on its way to Paris towards its country, after it was forcibly removed.
Prizes and honors
In appreciation of her activity in the field of climate change, Greta Thonberg won international and local prizes, and reached the extent that the nominations list for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, and among the most prominent awards it received:
- Swedish youth “Fishust” grant for the 2018 youth role model.
- The character of the 2019 character of the American magazine Time, and she was the smallest character to win the title.
- The title of the most important woman in Sweden in 2019.
- The “Wright Livlies” award, which is usually called “Alternative Nobel” in 2019.
- Ambassador of Ambassador Ambassador from Amnesty International in the field of human rights in 2019.
- Forbes magazine was placed by a list of the 100 most powerful women in the world in 2019.
- The “Colinquan” Humanity Award in 2020.
- She was chosen by “Nature” magazine among the top 10 characters in 2019.
- She won a prize of $ 100,000 from the Danish Human Akin organization in 2020, and donated to UNICEF.
Source: Tel Aviv Tribune + American press + Swedish press