Greta Thunberg tells the Canary why she supports the hunger strikers

Greta Thunberg famously joined fellow activists from around the world on a humanitarian flotilla in October, in an attempt to break the illegal Israeli siege on Gaza. At the time, the British Government saw fit to abandon their own citizens who were abducted by Israel, and now it is seen to be abandoning the hunger strikers in our prisons.

On Saturday 20 December, Thunberg appeared at the protest in support of the hunger strikers, once again putting our own government to shame:

🚨 EXCLUSIVE:

The Canary's @JustBarold spoke to @GretaThunberg tonight. She gave her thoughts on how Labour is treating the hunger strikers, its disgraceful complicity with Israel's genocide, & what we all need to be doing to affect change for the Palestinian people 👇 pic.twitter.com/Bz4UTpxnMN

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) December 20, 2025

Greta Thunberg: government is ‘criminalising empathy’

Greta Thunberg spoke with our reporter, Barold, defending the hunger strikers in UK prisons. Thunberg calls out the moral and legal failings of our government and international community, whilst highlighting the solidarity shown across the world for Palestine:

The UK government has failed miserably in fulfilling their bare minimum legal duties to prevent and stop a genocide from happening. And what has happened here is that civilians have taken on that responsibility to act to end the complicity in genocide and are now being punished. We are criminalising empathy.

So I don’t need to express my utter disgust for the UK government and their treatment of this. It is not the first time the UK government are letting political prisoners die in prison. They are on the wrong side of history and it is crystal clear that they are on the wrong side of history. and we have people all over the world who show our whole heart and support to the hunger strikers and to activists, people all over the world who are raising their voices to end the publicity in the Gaza genocide.

Speaking to the legal issues which have prompted the prisoners to go on hunger strike, Thunberg clarified:

And I fully stand behind their demands, which is the right to a fair trial, and the censorship of the communication, immediate bail, and the prescription of Palestine action. as well as stopping air resistance operations in Britain.

This genocide in Gaza, if you can even say genocide, it’s so much more. It’s not, would never have been possible without countries like the UK seeing a deliberate… attempt to deliberately erase an entire population by Israel with help of the entire world. And we have to teach them that no one has the privilege of saying we did not know what was done.

When asked by our reporter, Barold, about the importance of supporting the hunger strikers:

It is crucial because that is showing what leadership looks like. We are telling people, Palestinians are calling for people all over the world to step up and take action. And that is what people have done. They are the true leaders. So the UK government are letting people in their 20s who are not convicted of any crime die in prison, in hunger strike, for demands which are the bare minimum.

Solidarity in action

Addressing the role that every person can play to show solidarity with Palestine, Greta Thunberg added:

We need to push from every possible direction and whoever you are you have a role to play. Whatever platform you have you will have people you can reach that you can affect. You can either take direct action, you can get organized in many other ways, boycott and divest. If you get in contact with people in your local community who share the same values as you, there are almost no limits to what you can accomplish together when it comes to standing up for human rights and showing solidarity.

As the situation for the hunger strikers continues to deteriorate, people in Sheffield came out to show their respect and solidarity 💚 #ukpolitics #news #palestine #protest #hungerstrike @Prisoners4Pal @JustBarold pic.twitter.com/DKIG1mEQX5

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) December 21, 2025

Ignorance and denial

The hunger strikers are part of the Filton 24, a group imprisoned for a year and a half without trial. They are held for allegedly causing damage to an Israeli weapons factory in Bristol. This action reportedly took place in protest against the UK’s role in the mass murder of Palestinians. In contravention with our obligations under international law, the UK are still providing arms supplies, spy planes, and diplomatic support to Israel enabling its genocide.

Our own reporter, Skwawkbox, wrote on Friday about how David Lammy’s spokesperson, James Timpson, tried to argue that the government doesn’t ‘treat any prisoners differently to others’. However, Thunberg points out that these prisoners are being neglected of their rights to due process. Until those rights are duly afforded, the hunger strike will likely continue.

But our leaders will be complicit if any of these principled protesters die under their watch – as Greta Thunberg outlined.

Featured image via Barold