Fridays for Future accuses the media of manipulating anti-Israel messages. Iran is said to have trained Hamas terrorists – the report said there were 500 in the country

On Wednesday evening, the climate protection movement Fridays for Future (FFF) published a message on its international Instagram profile taking action against Israel. The message consists of several text panels, the first of which says: “This is how Western media brainwashes you into supporting Israel.”

It further explains that it is not a “conflict” in the Middle East, but rather a “genocide.” The reason for this is an ‘apartheid system’ that the Jewish state allegedly operates. The climate activists then share conspiracy theories and accuse the Western media of lying by deliberately withholding information. For example, the fact that women and children die in Gaza every day as a result of Israeli attacks would not be included in the reporting. The media would also portray the conflict in the Middle East as “complicated” to prevent people from learning about it.

Moreover, the Western media would supposedly make you believe that “all Palestinians” are terrorists – in the next step it would be “all Arabs” and “all Muslims”. From the perspective of the climate protection movement, Palestinians are being ‘dehumanized’. Finally, it is claimed that the Western media is “not independent” and “not neutral” – instead, they are funded by “imperialist governments” that side with Israel because of a “racist agenda.”

The reactions are predominantly negative

The post on Instagram caused a wave of outrage. The post contains comments that deeply criticize the content and accuse FFF of anti-Semitism and spreading lies. “I thought this was a page for the pro-climate movement, and not for Hamas propaganda,” said one user.

The message is also actively discussed on X. Fridays for Future “unabashedly spreads the most disgusting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories,” writes German journalist Gerrit Seebald and demands consequences.

As early as January 2023, a tweet from the Fridays for Future International account went viral in which the climate movement accused Israel of “neocolonialism and apartheid”. Even before that, FFF had already attracted attention through anti-Semitic statements.

This is how Climate Strike Switzerland positions itself

Climate Strike, the climate movement in Switzerland, also published a statement on the conflict in the Middle East on X on Wednesday – but independently of FFF International’s Instagram post. The Swiss climate activists “condemn Hamas’ attack on the Israeli civilian population” but also “the Israeli government’s continued violence against the Palestinian civilian population” and therefore call for a ceasefire.

When asked by Watson, Klimastrike explained that their own post on X was the only post legitimized by the Swiss movement. Climate Strike emphasizes that the Fridays for Future movement is “loosely organized” and that “any regional, national or international groups” function independently of each other – even though Climate Strike emerged from the same original 2018 movement as the pro-climate movement. in other countries. Klimastrike further explains that they would not judge the messages or statements of other regions or groups because they would come from other contexts that they could not identify with.

Response from Germany

The German branch of Fridays for Future, on the other hand, has taken a stand against the controversial post from the international account:

This message has attracted criticism: FFF Germany should change its name so that it is no longer associated with FFF International. One user notes that Fridays for Future has a “leadership and organization problem.”

FFF’s public image is influenced by a “handful of people”.

The German activists refer to an article in the weekly magazine “Jüdische Allgemeine” to provide information on how such reports would come about. However, the article only talks about the international Twitter account, but not the Instagram account. The newspaper’s investigation found that the content of the FFF International Twitter account was largely determined by fewer than a dozen activists. None of them were “nationally known or elected because of his or her position.” It is about a “handful of people with an almost fanatically anti-Israel attitude who shape the positions of the report on the conflict in the Middle East – and thus shape the public image of the entire FFF movement.”

A few days ago, German activists expressed their solidarity “with the victims of Hamas violence” in a public statement. They are in ‘unlimited solidarity with Jews’ who ‘experience anti-Semitic violence’. At the same time, they would see the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza and worry about rising anti-Muslim racism.