October 7, 2025 | 01:39 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg spoke publicly for the first time on Monday after being released from an Israeli prison, where she was reportedly beaten and forced to kiss the Israeli flag.
Thunberg was among 171 people deported by Israeli authorities after being detained for joining the Global Sumud Flotilla, an aid convoy bound for Gaza. According to Anadolu Agency, the detainees were flown to Greece and Slovakia following their release.
Speaking at Athens’ Eleftherios Venizelos Airport, Thunberg said her personal ordeal was not what mattered most.
“I could talk for a long time about the mistreatment and violations we faced in prison—believe me,” she said. “But that is not the story. Let me be very clear: there is a genocide going on in front of our very eyes, a live-streamed genocide.”
Thunberg stressed that no one can claim ignorance about the situation in Gaza.
“No one has the privilege to say we are not aware of what's happening. No one in the future will be able to say we did not know.”
She accused Israel of “continuing to worsen and escalate their genocide and mass destruction with genocide of intent, attempting to erase an entire population, an entire nation in front of you.”
The 22-year-old activist called for continued global attention on Gaza and other regions suffering from conflict and exploitation.
“We cannot take our eyes away from Gaza, from all the places of the world that are suffering, living on the forefront of this business-as-usual system: Congo, Sudan, Afghanistan, Gaza and many, many more,” she said. “What we are doing is the bare minimum.”
Expressing disbelief at the ongoing suffering, Thunberg added: “I will never comprehend how humans can be so evil. That you would deliberately starve millions of people living trapped under an illegal siege as a continuation of decades of oppression and apartheid.”
In a video shared on her Instagram, Thunberg described the Global Sumud Flotilla as an act of “international solidarity with Palestine.”
She condemned Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza as a violation of international law, saying their detention was “a direct consequence of our governments’ complicity.”
“States have a legal obligation to end their complicity in genocide, which the UN commissioner now also confirmed it is,” she said. “Israel cannot claim impunity.”
According to Gaza health authorities, Israel’s bombardment has killed at least 67,160 Palestinians, mostly women and children, injured more than 169,000, and left two million residents on the brink of starvation.
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