Greta's Mutiny on the Bounty

Some people have a knack for being on the wrong side of every debate, issue, argument, crisis, and catastrophe that comes along, and Greta is the poster child of that group. They’re louder, whinier, and wronger than anyone else, which once again reminds me of Norman Maclean’s famous quote – ‘The most ignorant are always the most positive.’

The most ignorant, in this case, evidently includes a group of do-gooding nose-pokers called the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which describes itself as ‘an international activist group that seeks to break Israel’s more than 17-year illegal and inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip.’ And if you didn’t already know it, Israel has been pretty careful about who, and what weapons, they allow to be brought into the Gaza Strip, where the Palestinians live, since 2007, when the Hamas terrorist group took control of it. Probably has something to do with the radical Arabs’ stated intention of killing every Israeli on the planet and wiping their country from history, like Hitler tried to do 75 years ago. But that’s none of my business.

The truth is, the great majority of Arabs and Israelis just want to be left alone and live in peace, but groups like Hamas can’t stand having Israelis around, or alive at all, so they keep stirring things up over there. On 7 October 2023 several thousand Hamas terrorists attacked Israel and killed about 1,200 of them, mostly civilians, and took over 250 hostages. The Israelis, for some reason, didn’t care for that behavior, and unappreciatively launched a mean-spirited counterattack to make Hamas stop. So you can see why the Freedom Flotilla people are upset at Israel. It’s bad form to defend yourself if you’re Jewish.

The official story, if you watch the news, which is not recommended, is that Israel is starving the Palestinians in Gaza, so the FFC has been trying to send food in by boat on the Mediterranean Sea. On 1 June Greta and some other volunteers left Italy on a boat called the Madleen, carrying about fifteen virtue-signaling meddlers, less than a truckload of food, and an awful lot of gall. The group posted videos of themselves on social media along the way, about how they were going to feed millions of people with a dozen sandwiches and a few cases of Diet Peach fizz, or something. Netflix will probably air a documentary this fall. The Blockade Runners.

The Madleen never made it to Gaza, of course. The Israelis scooped them up before they got there, but Greta managed to send out one last video letting everyone know she was about to be ‘kidnapped.’ And then they all threw their smart phones into the sea. I guess pollution is only pollution if you don’t care about the environment. Or something.

During the week and half Greta and her cronies were enjoying their pleasure cruise across the Med, more than 1,200 truckloads of food were hauled into Gaza from Israel for the civilians there, although that doesn’t really matter, since whiny celebs didn’t post videos about it. Makes you wonder, though, if Greta’s Gripers actually thought they were helping anyone. Probably not.

The dozen or so heroic freedom fighters were all deported to their respective countries of origin, where I’m sure they’ll be received with open arms and hailed as saviors. Greta was sent home to Sweden. On a plane. Greta hates planes, because, you know, they’re destroying the planet. Greta was not a happy camper.

But before they were sent home, the Madleen Avengers were treated to a movie night. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz had the IDF set them all down and make them watch videos of the horrible atrocities inflicted on the Israeli citizens by Hamas on October 7. Videos Hamas made, for propaganda, of Hamas soldiers gunning down unarmed civilians, including women, children, and the elderly. Massacring hundreds at a music festival. Mutilating and beheading bodies. Dragging people off to become hostages. Gang raping and torturing women. Hamas sent some of the videos to the families of the victims.

I doubt the videos changed the minds of the FFC meddlers. As Ron White said, you can’t fix stupid. All you can do is put it on a plane and send it back to Sweden.

Regardless, I’m thankful for Greta and her ilk. Without their enthusiastic ignorance the world would be a little duller. They aren’t any good at doing any good, but at least they’re outstanding at being ineffective.

Maybe now Greta will go back to unsuccessfully saving the planet . . .

Kendal Hemphill is an outdoor humor columnist and minister who once helped haul almost a quarter of a pickup load of humanitarian aid to a village in Mexico, including several gimme caps. Write to him at [email protected]