Obama criticizes Israel's seizure of Palestinian lands... and Netanyahu responds

Listen to the article. The audio text is automated, generated by an automated system

Former US President Barack Obama sparked widespread controversy with sharp statements about the history of Israel's founding and the policies of its current government, considering that the Israelis "took land from the people and were excessive," and warning that relying on military superiority and refusing to make concessions led to "the loss of moral ground."

Statements that prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to respond publicly, stressing that the Jewish people are not a foreign colonial power, and that Israel is not a state established on stolen land.

Obama's statements came during an interview with journalist and writer Susan MacKay in Belfast on Tuesday evening, as part of a lecture tour that included Glasgow and Manchester. On the same day, Obama received an honorary doctorate from Queen's University Belfast, praising the Good Friday Agreement as a model of the possibility of overcoming historical wounds and choosing peace.

Speaking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Obama acknowledged that the Jewish people have been subjected for thousands of years to persecution, discrimination, and killing, and that Europe bears great responsibility for part of this suffering, adding that the Jews’ quest for a safe haven is understandable. But he added, "What is also undeniable is that they took land from people and were excessive," noting that the Palestinians saw this as an injustice and demanded the return of their land.

The former US president argued that military superiority does not necessarily provide a sustainable solution to the conflict, warning against Israel adopting an approach based on using its military and technological power to achieve its goals without making concessions. He said that this approach may achieve gains in the short term, but it leads to a loss of moral legitimacy, considering that the current Israeli government appears to have chosen this path.

Obama stressed that about seven million Palestinians will not leave the region, and that imposing conditions on itself that the other party does not accept cannot constitute a permanent basis for stability. He also criticized the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, considering that it would not have led to meaningful positive change, and called on the Palestinians to adopt non-violent strategies instead of betting on Israel's military defeat.

In direct response to these statements, Netanyahu posted a video clip on the “X” platform, in which he said that he heard statements that he described as unfortunate, talking about Israel’s seizure of land and its loss of moral legitimacy.

Netanyahu added: "The Jewish people are not foreign occupiers in the land of our ancestors. Our history is not a colonial project. Our land is not stolen land. This is our homeland. It is called Judea. We are not the Dutch in Indonesia, and we are not the Belgians in the Congo. We are Jews in Judea."

The verbal confrontation reflects a deeper disagreement over the historical narrative of the conflict, between those who focus on the rights of the Palestinians and their experience with land loss and displacement, and those who emphasize Jewish historical and religious ties to the land, in addition to the security and political considerations that accompanied the establishment of Israel.

Pro-Israel circles criticized Obama's statements, considering that they distort history and ignore the Jewish historical connection to the land, the land purchases before 1948, and the wars that followed the declaration of the establishment of Israel, as well as the displacement of Jews from Arab countries. On the other hand, Obama's statements put the issue of the use of force and the limits of military superiority at the heart of the discussion about the chances of reaching a political settlement.

These statements come in the context of Obama's invocation of the peace experience in Northern Ireland, which he considers a lesson that can be learned in other conflicts, despite his acknowledgment that he is not as optimistic as he would like in the short term regarding the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.