Greta Thunberg has landed in France after being deported from Israel

Israel taunted Greta Thunberg while kicking her out of the country, sending her back to Europe on a plane despite the activist famously refusing to fly because of its impact on the environment.

Greta Thunberg disembarks from the aid ship Madleen at Ashdod. Picture: X

Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg has landed in Paris after she was detained in Israel along with other activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid boat.

Israel used the deportation as a final humiliation of the activist, sending her via plane despite Ms Thunberg famously refusing to fly because of its impact on the environment. She hadn’t boarded a plane since 2015.

Speaking to reporters at Charles de Gaulle airport , Ms Thunberg accused Israel of “kidnapping us in international waters and taking us against our will to Israel”.

“This is about bringing as much humanitarian aid as we possibly could while also sending a message of solidarity and hope.”

Five French activists who were also aboard the boat carrying aid bound for Gaza are set to face an Israeli judge, the French foreign minister confirmed Tuesday.

“Our consul was able to see the six French nationals arrested by the Israeli authorities last night,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on the same platform.

“One of them has agreed to leave voluntarily and should return today. The other five will be subject to forced deportation proceedings.”

Activist Greta Thunberg has been deported from Israel and put on a flight to France.

Thunberg is believed to be joined by one of six French activists who were aboard the ship..

Disparaging the Madleen and its crew as a “selfie-yacht,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “Those who refuse to sign deportation documents and leave Israel will be brought before a judicial authority, in accordance with Israeli law, to authorise their deportation.” The ministry said envoys from the activists’ home countries would meet them at the airport.

Earlier, Ms Thunberg and company refused to view a video showing the atrocities commited by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had planned for the activists to be shown the video before they left the country.

However he said on Tuesday morning that when they saw the first scenes, “they refused to continue watching.”

“Greta [Thunberg] and her flotilla companions were taken into a room upon their arrival for a screening of the horror film of the October 7 massacre, and when they saw what it was about, they refused to continue watching,” Mr Katz said in a statement.

“The antisemitic flotilla members are turning a blind eye to the truth and have proven once again that they prefer the murderers to the murdered and continue to ignore the atrocities committed by Hamas against Jewish and Israeli women, adults, and children,” he added.

Ms Thunberg and friends were deported after earlier disembarking their boat Madleen at Israel’s Ashdod port, where it had been towed by the Israeli navy.

Asked about claims Israel had “kidnapped” the activists as they allege, Donald Trump said: “I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg.”

He went on to describe the young campaigner as a “young, angry person.”

“I think she has to go to anger management class. That’s my primary recommendation for her.” he said, adding: “I don’t know if it’s real anger.”

In response, Ms Thunberg said: “I think the world needs a lot more angry women to be honest”.

Greta Thunberg in a photo posted by the Israel Foreign Ministry after Thunberg and others were removed from the yacht Madleen after it was boarded by the IDF. The vessel was intercepted in international waters en route to Gaza. Picture: X

Early on Tuesday Israel’s Foreign Ministry posted a picture of Ms Thunberg and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila beside an Israeli flag on the dock, and said the ship’s passengers and crew were being checked to ensure they were in good health.

“The ‘Selfie Yacht’ docked at Ashdod Port a short while ago. The passengers are currently undergoing medical examinations to ensure they are in good health,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The ‘Selfie Yacht’ docked at Ashdod Port a short while ago. The passengers are currently undergoing medical examinations to ensure they are in good health. pic.twitter.com/dGOhPxQnYI

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) June 9, 2025

The Madleen, which the Israeli navy intercepted in what activists claim were international waters on Monday, reached the port north of Gaza at around 8.45pm local time (2.45am AEST), escorted by the Israeli navy.

The Madleen set sail from Italy on June 1 to raise awareness of food shortages in the Gaza Strip, which the United Nations has called the “hungriest place on Earth”.

Greta Thunberg on the prow of the ship Madleen as it left Italian waters. Picture: Supplied

At around 4.02am (10.02am AEST) on Monday, Israeli troops boarded the vessel as it approached Gaza, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which organised the trip.

“If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped,” Ms Thunberg said in pre-recorded footage shared by the coalition.

Video from the group shows the activists with their hands up as Israeli forces boarded the vessel, with the ship’s captain confirming nobody was injured prior to the interception.

Israel’s foreign ministry, in a post on social media, said “all the passengers of the ‘selfie yacht’ are safe and unharmed”, adding it expected the activists to return to their home countries.

Turkey condemned the interception as a “heinous attack” and Iran denounced it as “a form of piracy” in international waters.

In May, another Freedom Flotilla ship, the Conscience, reported it was struck by drones in an attack the group blamed on Israel. In 2010, an Israeli commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar attempt to breach the naval blockade, left 10 civilians dead.

On Sunday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said the blockade, in place for years before the Israel-Hamas war, was needed to prevent Palestinian militants from importing weapons.

The Madleen was intercepted about 185 kilometres west of the coast of Gaza, according to coordinates from the coalition.

President Emmanuel Macron requested that the six French nationals aboard the boat “be allowed to return to France as soon as possible”, a presidential official said.

The Madleen has docked at the southern port of Ashdod after being intercepted by Israeli forces. Picture: Jack Guez/AFP

Two of them are journalists, Omar Fayyad of Qatar-based Al Jazeera and Yanis Mhamdi who works for online publication Blast, according to media rights group Reporters Without Borders, which condemned their detention and called for their “immediate release”.

Al Jazeera “categorically denounces the Israeli incursion”, the network said in a statement, demanding the reporter’s release.

Adalah, an Israeli NGO offering legal support for the country’s Arab minority, said the activists on board the Madleen had requested its services, and that the group was likely to be taken to a detention centre before being deported.

Israel is facing mounting pressure to allow more aid into Gaza to alleviate widespread shortages of food and basic supplies.

In what organisers called a “symbolic act”, hundreds of people launched a land convoy on Monday from Tunisia with the aim of reaching Gaza.

Out of 251 taken hostage during the Hamas attack of October 7, 54 are still held in Gaza including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.