JTA — In one of her last interviews, renowned British primatologist Jane Goodall said that she wanted to send Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with several other world leaders she disliked, on a one-way trip to space.
“There are people I don’t like. And I would like to put them on one of [Elon] Musk’s spaceships and send them all off to the planet he’s sure he’s going to discover,” Goodall said on Netflix’s “Famous Last Words: Dr. Jane Goodall,” which was filmed earlier this year and premiered following her death last week at 91.
When asked who she would like to see shipped off to space by the show’s host, Brad Falchuk, Goodall did not mince her words:
“Along with Musk, would be (US President Donald) Trump, and some of Trump’s real supporters. And then I would put (Russian President Vladimir) Putin in there, and I would put (Chinese) President Xi (Jinping). I’d certainly put Netanyahu in there and his far-right government,” Goodall continued. “Put them all on that spaceship and send them off.”
Beyond her groundbreaking work researching chimpanzees, Goodall also emerged as one of the leading voices of the animal conservation movement. And in the later years of her life, she also turned her focus to advocating for human rights, including in Gaza.
In a statement issued during the International Day of Peace in 2024, Goodall called for an end to the “continuing conflict between Israel and Palestine, which has resulted in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
“Let us pray for the end of conflict, especially the genocide of the people of Gaza,” wrote Goodall. “And for those risking their lives to help the wounded and feed the hungry and care for the animals suffering as a result of human violence, cruelty and war.”
In April, Goodall also used her address at the Starmus science festival in La Palma, Spain, to place Gaza on a list of situations that distressed her.
“The genocide in Gaza keeps me up at night,” Goodall said in her address, according to Spanish radio station SER. “The terrible war in Ukraine — there are conflicts all over the world. In Sudan, there is a true humanitarian crisis, and I think the only reason I have hope is because I lived through the Second World War.”
Israel vehemently denies committing genocide in Gaza where it has been fighting Hamas since the October 7, 2023 assault on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw another 251 taken hostage.
Hamas authorities say more than 66,000 people have been killed in figures that can not be verified and do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
At the conclusion of her Netflix interview, Goodall addressed the camera directly and called on her audience not to lose hope.
“Don’t give up. There is a future for you. Do your best while you’re still on this beautiful Planet Earth that I look down upon from where I am now,” said Goodall.