FORMER US PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S REMARKS O...

Summary

• Speaking at a public event at The O2 Belfast arena in front of around 7,000 people, in conversation with Northern Irish journalist Susan McKay, Obama said: > *”The fact is that the Jewish people faced thousands of years of oppression, discrimination and murder.
• Obama further criticized the current Israeli government’s policy, saying: > *”If Israel’s attitude is that now we are the strongest… our security depends on us doing whatever we want and taking whatever we want… that may work in the short term… but you have ceded moral ground.”* He added that the current Israeli government has *”apparently ceded moral ground”* and must recognize that *7 million Palestinians are not going anywhere.* *NETANYAHU’S STRONG RESPONSE:* Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded with a video statement on October 17, 2026, without naming Obama directly, calling the remarks “regrettable”.
• Netanyahu said: > *”The Jewish people are not foreign occupiers in the land of our ancestors.

AI Generated Summary

Former US President Barack Obama has triggered a major political controversy with his remarks on the history of Israel-Palestine conflict during his visit to Belfast, Northern Ireland on October 13, 2026.

Speaking at a public event at The O2 Belfast arena in front of around 7,000 people, in conversation with Northern Irish journalist Susan McKay, Obama said: