Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded Friday to comments by former US President Barack Obama in which he accused Israel of “taking land away from people” and being “excessive”, referring to Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people throughout the country’s history.
Obama made the comments Tuesday during a visit to Belfast, Northern Ireland.
“The Jewish people are not foreign occupiers in the land of our ancestors,” Netanyahu said in a video posted on X/Twitter. “Our history is not a colonial enterprise. Our land is not stolen land. It is our homeland.”
Netanyahu called Obama’s comments in Belfast a “regrettable statement,” emphasizing the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, highlighting its biblical name, “Judea.”
“That’s where the Jews come from,” he said. “And we’ve been attached to it for thousands of years.”
The prime minister differentiated Israel from European nations with colonial pasts, saying Jews in Israel are not “the Dutch in Indonesia… the Belgians in Congo, we are the Jews in Judea.”
Obstacle to peace lies with enemies of Israel and America, says Netanyahu
Regarding the path to a peace deal, Netanyahu said the obstacle to peace was not Israel, but rather enemies in the region shared by Israel and the United States.
Specifically, Netanyahu highlighted the enemies’ “refusal to recognize the right of the Jewish people to have their own state, regardless of its borders.”
He cited the slogans “Death to Israel” and “Death to America,” which are common in states like Iran, a common enemy of the United States and Israel.
“We are the ‘Little Satan,’ you are the ‘Big Satan,'” he said, referring to how those states often refer to Israel and the United States, respectively, saying the two countries “defend our common civilization.”
“A peace built on illusions will crash against the rocks of Middle East reality,” Netanyahu said. “Israel will not gamble with its survival to accommodate those who refuse to accept the facts of history, accept our right to exist, or who wish to appease terrorism.
“That’s definitely not the case, we never will,” he concluded.
Obama: Palestinians “naturally” want their “land”
Obama’s comments Tuesday, in a conversation with journalist Susan McKay, referred to the Palestinian reaction to the Jewish people’s cultural and military control over the State of Israel, explaining that “these people rightly said, ‘This is an injustice and I want my land back.’ »
“The fact is that the Jewish people, for millennia, have been oppressed, discriminated against and killed,” Obama said at the time. “Europe is largely responsible for this. They naturally sought refuge.”
“If Israel’s attitude is this, now that we are the strongest, the most technologically advanced in the region, then our security will depend on us simply doing whatever we need and taking what we want, and not making any concessions to anyone,” he added. “It may work in the short term…but you’ve given up moral ground if that’s the position you take.”
Obama introduced nuance into conversation, says Irish weathersaying the region’s millions of Jews and Palestinians are “not going anywhere.”
“Israeli citizens must rethink, reimagine how their children and grandchildren will live in this region,” he said. “Are you just going to go behind walls and eliminate everyone around you, or are you going to find a fair way to defend yourself while acting ethically and morally?”
Obama added that the Palestinians must understand that they will not “outgun” or “outgun the Israelis.”
“We need to look to other examples of how change happens,” he said, pointing to “nonviolent strategies.” “It’s going to take time.”
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