„Today is free Palestine day. Today we commemorate all Palestinian victims of israeli neocolonialism and apartheid. Today we also think about all the hypocrites who have been ignoring the Palestinian suffering for decades. We are sad and angry. The fight goes on. ¡viva Palestine libre!“

Fridays For Future published this on Twitter on November 29th, 2022. What does Fridays For Future mean by this? What are they talking about?

Over 1.7 million Muslims live peacefully with Jews in Israel. Muslims and Jews are neighbors in Israel. They are work colleagues, teachers, lawyers, judges, politicians, policewomen, firemen, soldiers, cooks, sexual partners and much, much more. They laugh, live, eat, cry and argue with each other. They share the same country. They are connected to the trees, rivers, mountains, seas, lakes, towns, villages and deserts of their homeland, which they often include in their prayers. They are one family! Some are distant relatives, others trusted friends.

This is not apartheid! But Fridays For Future calls it apartheid.

The founding charter of Hamas demands the annihilation of the entire Jewish people (Article 7) and the destruction of Israel (Article 13). In mosques and on television Hamas ministers call Jews bacteria which should be exterminated and vermin whose throats should be cut and whose families should be murdered.

That’s apartheid! But it doesn’t make Fridays For Future angry.

Wiam Wahhab, a Lebanese government minister, declared on July 4, 2010 on Al-Jadid/New TV:

„I support Germany in politics and Brazil in sport. I like the way Brazil plays football, but I like the Germans because they hate the Jews and burned them.“

That’s apartheid! But it doesn’t make Fridays For Future sad.

Lebanon is one of the countries that have imposed a travel ban on me, Gerd Buurmann, just because I previously dared to travel to Israel. In addition to Lebanon, Syria, Kuwait, Yemen, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Iran reserve the right not to let people cross their borders if they are Jewish or visited Israel. Many of those countries are proud to have driven the Jews out of their countries. They are proud of their genocide. These countries also persecute homosexuals. In Iran, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, homosexuality can result in a death sentence. In Saudi Arabia, women are not to leave the house unveiled and without a man’s permission.

That’s apartheid! But Fridays For Future is ignoring that.

Israel equips state hospitals with prayer rooms for all religions after a Muslim successfully filed a lawsuit with the country’s Supreme Court because he could only pray outside of a clinic in Tel Aviv. Jews in Gaza, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Libya don’t have their own prayer rooms in hospitals; they’d hardly be granted a residency permit! It is forbidden to be Jewish in those regions. The countries are all „judenrein“!

That’s apartheid! But Fridays For Future is fighting for that.

Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Muslims live safely in a democracy that allows them to be gay or lesbian. They have the same rights as all other citizens of the country, regardless of gender or skin color. Israel is the only country in the Middle East where citizens can elect and, above all, change their government. The Israeli government is therefore the only government in the Middle East which is democratically elected by Muslims and Arabs.

That’s not apartheid! But Fridays For Future calls it neocolonialism.

Mahmud Abbas became president of the Palestinian Authority in 2005, but his term of office ended on January 9, 2009. Since then, he has held power without legitimacy. BDS is silent on that issue! Jordan is a monarchy with Islam as its state religion and Sharia law as its national law. All Palestinians who do not belong to Islam are second-class citizens in Jordan. BDS is silent on that issue! In Syria all Palestinians are disenfranchised and locked up in camps. In January 2014, the Syrian army encircled Palestinians in a camp and let them starve.

That’s apartheid! But Fridays For Future wants it to live.

A Jew hater criticizes those things about Jews that he gives non-Jews a pass on. An Israeli politician is already demonized if he’s not a saint. An Arab politician, however, is already declared a saint if he is not the devil. Israel is required to be superhuman in order to have permission to exist. For the rest of the world it’s enough to simply be human. Billions are spent to find Jews who are not perfect, only in order to demonize them: Look here, the Jews!

Countless journalists, correspondents, European and American organizations are on the road in Israel just to photograph, film and collect stories that show Jews as not perfect. Those photos, films and stories are regularly broadcast by state-sponsored and supported media, so that the majority are led to believe Israel to be the greatest threat to world peace and by and large no better than its Jew-hating neighbors.

Despite the continuous and relentless war that has been going on since 1948 against Israel, with the aim of wiping out the entire country and its population, Israel has adhered to all the basic principles of a democratically constituted society. This is unique in history.

Why doesn’t Fridays For Future praise Israel?

When it comes to save the planet Israel has taken on the responsibility. In December 2021 Israel’s minister of energy, Karine Elharrar, stopped the issuing of new licences for gas searching offshore at least for one year and said the government would focus on green energy. In March 2022 the government adopted a resolution for closing the petrochemical zone in Haifa Bay in a decade. The decision is very important to fulfilling the climate pledges of Israel. In May 2022 the government approved a climate law. The main points are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 27% by the year 2030 compared to the base year 2015, and to reach zero emissions by 2050. Israel’s NAM Technology has developed Ecokor, a new heating and cooling system that will save up to 40% of electricity consumption and reduce pollution emissions by increasing the output of cooling systems while using the same amount of power consumption. Furthermore Israel’s cabinet approved a plan in January 2022 to plant almost half a million trees throughout cities all over the country.

Fridays For Future should celebrate Israel, but they condemn Israel.

Israel may not be perfect, but there is no country in the world that has performed better under similar circumstances.

Why does Fridays For Future criticize Israel?

Fridays For Future points out all the mistakes Israel has made. They list all the misdemeanours Israel is said to have committed. The whole world is well informed about this. Criticism of Israel is common everywhere. Much criticism of the Israeli government comes from within Israel itself. In many countries Israel is certainly the most criticized nation, be it from free or unfree countries, be it from Germany or Iran. The United Nations has criticized Israel more often than all the other countries combined: from North Korea to America, from Russia to Afghanistan.

Why does Fridays For Future take some time out fighting for the planet in order to criticize Israel? If anything is superfluous, then even more criticism in the direction of Israel. What needs more attention are those regimes where criticism can be and is punished with violence and death.

There’s already enough criticism of Israel which is merely repetitive. However, there is a lack of criticism of the behavior and actions of Israel’s enemies. Indeed, that criticism can result in violence and even death in some parts of the world.

I am for Israel, not because I believe that somebody first set his foot in the sand somewhere, or because some God invited some bearded man for a coffee to discuss dividing up the world, but because Israel is the only country in the Middle East in which women and men have equal rights; homosexuality is recognized by the state; opinion, art and science are free; no religion is discriminated against, and Jews neither have to be better nor worse than all other people. Every square meter in the Middle East that takes Israel as an example is one square meter of humanity gained.

Why is Fridays For Future demonizing the country that lets me live as I am and fail to criticize all the countries where I am persecuted because I am the way I am?

As said, a Jew hater criticizes those things about Jews that he gives non-Jews a pass on. Fridays For Future is certainly guilty of that. I hope, Fridays For Future finds a way out of this centuries old hatred. I sincerely wish all the girls, boys, men and women of Fridays For Future at least one Shabbat For Sanity.