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.

  • @jet@hackertalks.com
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    161 year ago

    Obama’s in a position where he can say things that he couldn’t say when he was president. And it’s valuable for him to say it this way.

    As a former president, having sat in that seat, having talked to the belligerents, he is incredibly informed. And he now has more political freedom to say what he means

    • Annoyed_🦀 A
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      111 year ago

      Dude also spearheded the peace talk in 2013-14. Guess who sabotage it? Obama know what’s up between this 3 faction, namely Israel, Hamas, and Fatah, and because Israel never wanted to communitcate with Hamas and never really wanted to listen to Fatah, and Hamas Fatah doesn’t really like each other, it makes the peace process impossible. It failed because people never wanted to listen.

      Obama said he would rather see people “out there talking to people. “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,” Obama said.