President Donald Trump has criticized political activist Greta Thunberg, labeling her as ‘crazy’ and a ‘troublemaker’.
This follows the deportation of the 22-year-old from Israel, along with 170 other activists who were part of the Gaza flotilla.
A total of 479 individuals were detained on 42 boats that comprised the Global Sumud Flotilla. To date, 341 have been deported, with the remainder still in custody in Israel.
In Athens, the Swedish activist was greeted with cheers and flowers as she raised her fist at the airport. However, not everyone supports Thunberg’s actions.
The President criticized her for participating in the flotilla, which aimed to ‘break the illegal siege on Gaza by sea, open a humanitarian corridor, and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people’.
While addressing the press in the Oval Office, Trump responded to a question about Israel’s arrest and deportation of activists, where allegations of mistreatment have been raised by many campaigners.
He specifically targeted Thunberg in his response: “She’s just a troublemaker… she’s no longer into the environment now.”
Trump added: “She’s a troublemaker, she has an anger management problem, I think she should see a doctor…”
He further commented: “Have you ever watched her? She’s a young person. She’s so angry, she’s so crazy… She’s just a troublemaker.”
Following the President’s remarks, Greta responded on Instagram.
“I heard Donald Trump once again has expressed his very flattering opinions on my character, and I appreciate his concerns for my mental health,” she stated.
“To Trump: I would kindly receive any recommendations you might have to deal with these so-called ‘anger management problems’ since – judging by your impressive track record – you seem to be suffering from them too.”
Israel’s foreign ministry shared on X that ‘the deportees were citizens of Greece, Italy, France, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Austria, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland, Norway, the UK, Serbia, and the United States’.
In the same press conference, Trump also discussed peace efforts in Gaza and acknowledged the contributions of certain countries: “Qatar has been very, very helpful to us in this process… I think it’s probably the most influential and very strong.”
“With Hamas, they’re very strong. And Turkey has likewise been helpful, I mean, honestly, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, everybody has been helpful,” he noted.
“I just spoke with the King of Jordan today, and he’s been terrific too, I can’t think of any country that has been negative about this. This is why it should happen,” he insisted.
Concluding his remarks, Trump asserted: “I mean, everybody wants it to happen. And usually when everybody, including I think Hamas, when they want it to happen, it’s going to happen.”