Why climate activists love to hate Israel

Climate activists have been busy since 7 October. The demands for ‘action now’ on global warming continue, but affairs in the Middle East are proving to be a distraction for Just Stop Oil. Cries of ‘free Gaza’, ‘ceasefire now’, and even ‘from the river to the sea’ – a chant, purported to be a cry for peace and ‘solidarity’ with Palestinians, but used by those who want to wipe Israel off the map – have now joined, and at times drowned out, the usual green slogans.

Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists took part in a sit-in protest at London’s Waterloo station on Saturday to demand a ceasefire, despite Hamas continuing to hold hundreds of Israelis hostage. The group’s eco-warriors have also been waving placards, condemning Israel’s response to Hamas’s attack: ‘Stop murdering children, free Palestine, end apartheid’. Of course, what JSO won’t tell you is that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid killing civilians, and particularly children; Palestine/Gaza is in chains thanks to its own theocratic, fascist government – Hamas – and Israel does not operate ‘apartheid’.