Israelis join global call for climate action

 The global climate strike kicked off in the Pacific islands – some of the nations most threatened by rising sea levels – and followed the rising sun through Australia, Japan, Southeast Asia and into Europe, Africa and the Middle East including in Israel. 

Social media posts showed scores of demonstrations, ranging from a few dozen primary school children in Abuja, Nigeria, to tens of thousands of people in cities from Hamburg, in Germany to Melbourne, Australia. 

Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish activist who has inspired the movement, noted in a tweet the “huge crowd” in Sydney, which she said would set the standard for strikes and protests planned in about 150 countries. 

“Our future on your shoulders,” read one banner stretched across a street by students in Berlin. 

“Our oceans are rising, so are we,” was a popular slogan on placards, including one carried by a student in school uniform in Melbourne and another by a girl wearing a facemask in Kolkata, in eastern India. 

The protesters are calling on governments to take immediate action to limit the harmful effects of manmade climate change. 

The strike will culminate in New York when Thunberg, who has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her climate activism, will spearhead a rally at the UN headquarters.

The demonstrations in Israel took place in Tel Aviv, Beer Sheba, Jerusalem, Haifa and Sakhnin.

Soda Stream announced that their e-commerce platforms and head office operations offices would be closed on Friday and encouraged employees to participate in the protest.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this story.