Obama says people need to acknowledge complexity of Israel-Palestinian conflict to move forward | CNN Politics
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Former President Barack Obama weighed in on the violence in Gaza, saying any constructive action would require acknowledging the complexity of the situation.

Former President Barack Obama said a way forward for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is only possible if people acknowledge 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 in an interview on the podcast “Pod Save America.”

The former president’s comments come as the Israeli military focuses its offensive against Hamas in Gaza City and northern parts of the enclave.

  • avater@lemmy.worldEnglish
    558·
    1 year ago

    He also said:

    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

    which is something I totally agree on. There is no “good or bad” team in the Middle East…all parties are involved in this conflict and it’s cause!

    • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
      141·
      1 year ago

      Hey, don’t forget those of us who made this mess and walked away, and every country on Earth that continues to keep the whole Middle East area relevant through our continued oil addiction.

      • Roboticide@lemmy.worldEnglish
        32·
        1 year ago

        Hey, don’t forget those of us who made this mess and walked away,

        The early 20th century British Empire?

        through our continued oil addiction.

        Israel, let alone Gaza, don’t exactly produce a lot of oil, and I certainly don’t know that they sell it.

        This whole conflict in Israel is more about land, and the West supports Israel bEcAuSe DeMoCrAcY in an otherwise unfriendly region. The region as a whole might be messy “because oil,” but that’s rather tangential to this conflict.

        • Pipoca@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Israel is adjacent to an incredibly strategic shipping location - the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal links the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean without having to go around Africa or around Siberia.

          Israel isn’t strategically important because it has big oil reserves. It’s strategically important because it’s near a lot of important things. Oil and shipping play a bigger role than you’d think.

    • jorge@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      1814·
      1 year ago

      Of course. Those kids in refugee camps, hospitals and ambulances have their hands soaked in blood.