Greta Thunberg Cast Off by Gaza Flotilla Leadership Team as ‘Rifts’ Grow Over Agenda, Participation of LGBTQ Activists

The flotilla headed to Gaza carrying Greta Thunberg is steering through rough seas after its leadership cast aside the Swedish climate activist over her navigation of the group’s priorities and Muslim participants dispute the participation of LGBTQ members whom they accuse of glomming onto the Palestinian cause.Last week, Ms. Thunberg was spotted by reporters at the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said — where several boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla had rerouted after mechanical failures and poor weather hampered their voyage. She was reportedly moving her bags to the Alma, a vessel where rank-and-file activists reside, from the group’s flagship, the Family, where the organizers reside.Ms. Thunberg had been driven out of the flotilla’s steering committee, according to an Italian left-wing media outlet, Il Manifesto, which reported that Ms. Thunberg said she believed the leadership was focused too much on external communications about the inner workings of the group and not enough on Gaza. Il Manifesto said those disagreements were “causing rifts within the organizing committee.” Her name has been removed from the flotilla’s list of board members.“We all have a role: mine will not be on the board, but as an organizer and participant,” Ms. Thunberg told the outlet.“The necessity and urgency of this mission cannot be overstated, even though it should absolutely not fall on civilians to do the job of world governments and uphold human rights and international law,” she added.A multinational organization of doctors, “solidarity activists,” and “seafarers” from more than 40 countries are participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla, hoping to “shift the global narrative” around Israel’s war against Hamas. A monthly French-language magazine, Le Courrier de l’Atlas, reported last week that a Tunisian co-coordinator of the Mahgreb unit of the flotilla, Khaled Boujemâa, resigned over the presence of a gay activist, Saif Ayadi, in the lead boat of the flotilla. Mr. Boujemâa said in a video on social media, “We were lied to about the identity of some participants in the vanguard of the flotilla. I accuse the organizers of having hidden this aspect from us.”Another activist, Samir Elwafi, also criticized the group for including LGBTQ activists. In a post on Facebook, Ms. Elwafi criticized what she saw as left-wing activists pushing values that “have nothing to do with Gaza.”“Palestine is first and foremost the cause of Muslims, and it cannot be separated from its spiritual and religious dimension,” Mr. Elwafi said. “So why involve in it dubious activists serving other agendas that do not concern us and have nothing to do with Gaza, such as homosexuality!? … Why all these financial, moral, ideological, and security suspicions surrounding a flotilla that is supposed to embody Arab sentiment and the conscience of humanity!?”A Canadian-Tunisian doctor who is a member of the group, Mariem Meftah, added that while gay people have legal rights, “You know yourself that you are a ‘queer’ fighter, so here you are taking advantage of the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to give value to your cause and your ideas.”While the flotilla aims to bring humanitarian relief to the Gaza Strip, it has repeatedly been forced to turn back. In September, the ship was thwarted by weather. In June, Ms. Thunberg’s ship was apprehended offshore by Israeli authorities and the group was deported. The first attempt ended before Ms. Thunberg ever boarded a ship. The vessel was damaged off the coast of Malta before it could pick her up.The flotilla’s representatives did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Greta Thunberg Cast Off by Gaza Flotilla Leadership Team as ‘Rifts’ Grow Over Agenda, Participation of LGBTQ Activists

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