Barack Obama has spoken out about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the first time since the Israeli military’s latest offensive against Hamas in Gaza City. While appearing on the podcast Pod Save America, the former President of the United States focused on the “complexity” of the situation.
“If there’s any chance of us being able to act constructively to do something, it will require an admission of complexity and maintaining what on the surface may seem contradictory ideas that what Hamas did was horrific, and there’s no justification for it. And … that the occupation and what’s happening to Palestinians is unbearable,” Obama said.
Barack Obama Speaks At The Obama Foundation Democracy Forum
From there, Obama spoke about the discourse he’s seen on social media, specifically TikTok. “If you want to solve the problem, then you have to take in the whole truth, and you then have to admit nobody’s hands are clean – that all of us are complicit to some degree,” he said. Obama added that he’d rather see people “out there talking to people,” than online. He further continued: “Including people who you disagree with. If you genuinely want to change this … you’ve got to figure out how to speak to somebody on the other side and listen to them and understand what they are talking about and not dismiss it.”
Barack Obama Discusses The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
President @BarackObama on the violence in Gaza.
Full interview out Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/U42Jy2Aa4y
— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) November 4, 2023
Obama is one of several influential figures who have spoken out about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent weeks. After being criticized for his silence on the matter, Drake signed a letter penned to President Joe Biden calling for a ceasefire in the war.
