Greta Thunberg faces backlash for 'anti-Semitic' post supporting Palestine

Climate activist Greta Thunberg was under the scanner recently on the sidelines of the Israel-Hamas war after she shared a pro-Palestine post on social media. 

A blue octopus that was visible in Thunberg’s post was viewed as an anti-Semitic symbol by many social-media users, reported The Times of India. 

"Today we are striking in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza. The world needs to speak up and call for an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for Palestinians and all civilians affected,” the 20-year-old’s post read. 

However, moments after she received backlash for the presence of a stuffed octopus in the photo, Greta Thunberg took the post down and shared an identical photo of herself and three other activists holding signs indicating their solidarity with Palestine. 

“It has come to my knowledge that the stuffed animal shown in my earlier post can be interpreted as a symbol for anti-Semitism, which I was completely unaware of,” the young activist wrote in another post. She further justified that the toy (stuffed octopus) in a following post was in fact a “tool” used by people with autism to communicate their feelings. 

“We are of course against any type of discrimination, and condemn antisemitism in all forms and shapes. This is non-negotiable. That is why I deleted the last post,” she wrote on platform X, (formerly known as Twitter).

Why is octopus an anti-Semitic symbol?

Cartoonists in the late 19th century often used the imagery of an octopus as a anti-Semitic rhetoric. An octopus was a symbol used to represent Jewish influence. To establish that Jewish people control and manipulate many aspects of society, many posters showed an octopus with its tentacles all around the globe. The octopus usually had a star of David on its head which represented Jewish identity. These symbols were usually published in a Nazi propaganda newspaper - 'Der Stürmer.’

With this, the Nazis established that Jews sought to extend their influence to all matters around the globe be it political or societal. 

As reported by the publication, the symbolism of the octopus came into play along with the conspiracy theory known as “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, a text that was first published in Russia wherein Jews were portrayed as an all-powerful group that controlled global affair with their “tentacles.”

Reportedly, the octopus is not just a symbol of anti-Semitism, but it has also been used in various forms of hate speech in the modern world.

Taking a jibe at her show of support for Palestine, Israel's official X handle wrote that Hamas did not use "sustainable materials" for their rockets adding that the victims could have been her friends.