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Politics
Fabrizio Villa and Alon Skuy/Getty Images
It’s fair to say Greta Thunberg and Andrew Tate haven’t seen eye-to-eye online, with the Swedish climate activist issuing a number of brutal putdowns to the influencer (including that he was “absolutely a misogynist”, before saying he was “absolutely not”) on Twitter/X.
However, when Thunberg was apprehended by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday (9 June), as she sought to deliver aid to Gaza alongside other activists on the British-flagged ship called the Madleen, Tate was bizarrely among those calling for the 22-year-old’s release.
While the Israel Foreign Ministry shared a photo of Thunberg being offered a sandwich and claimed she was “safe and in good spirits” following the IDF’s interception of the vessel, the climate campaigner said in a pre-recorded video that she had been “kidnapped in international waters”.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which organised the attempt to break Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid, said in a press release that the ship was “unlawfully boarded” with its “unarmed civilian crew abducted”.
“These volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalized for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade—their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately,” Huwaida Arraf, Freedom Flotilla organiser and human rights attorney, said in a statement.
“SOS” videos urging social media users to “pressure” the foreign ministries of the activists’ home countries have since been shared online by the Coalition, and now it seems even Tate is calling for Thunberg’s safe release.
Taking to Twitter/X on Monday morning, the former kickboxer wrote: “Free wifey @GretaThunberg.”
The pair had a viral spat on the social media platform back in 2022, when Tate marked his return to Elon Musk’s site by telling Thunberg to “go to school”, before boasting about his car collection and asking for her email so he can send her information about their “enormous emissions”.
“Yes, please do enlighten me. Email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com,” Thunberg replied.
Tate then fumed at the climate activist in a two-minute video, during which he was seen accepting two pizza boxes from a Romanian company.
Days later, he was arrested by the authorities as part of an investigation into human trafficking and rape, with Thunberg commenting on the arrest at the time by saying “this is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes”.
Why not read…
- Greta Thunberg allegedly 'kidnapped by Israeli forces'
- Andrew Tate claims he fought 60 boxers and beat them all in one go
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