| With Fridays For Future becoming embroiled in the social media storm that has accompanied the outbreak of violence in the Middle East, some supporters who marched along to the tune of climate action are beginning to look elsewhere. Is the group becoming unfit to provide the impulse necessary for the 2020s? Fridays For Future, the movement sparked by a Swedish teen who felt that governments worldwide weren’t doing enough to combat climate change, dominated Europe’s media landscape for years. The green wave that swept EU Parliament and policy was partly a response to, and legitimised by, scores of similarly-minded young taking to the streets. Yet the movement’s founding figure, Greta Thunberg, has recently come under fire in Germany. Likely with little ill intention, the figurehead of the Fridays movement waded into a profoundly complex issue where grievances run deep on both sides. “Today we strike in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza,” she said during a rally, dedicating her 270th Friday to the cause. It may seem innocuous, but critics quickly pointed out that she had not made similar calls when Israel was subject to a Hamas terrorist attack. And while support for Palestine does not equate to anti-Semitism, the damage was already done in such a febrile and incendiary information environment. “Fridays for Future will not solve the Middle East conflict – and should not even try,” said the green EU lawmaker Erik Marquardt. Thunberg recommended a set of social media handles her 5.6 million followers on X could go to for information on the conflict, resulting in left-wing media Volksverpetzer titling its most-read article from 20 October with “Greta Thunberg recommends accounts that support terrorism”. | 