CHICAGO — In a recent interview on
"Pod Save America," former President Barack Obama offered an analysis
of the current siege on Gaza, expressing to thousands of former aides that they
were all "complicit to some degree."
اضافة اعلان
He said, "I look at this, and I think
back, 'What could I have done during my presidency to move this forward, as
hard as I tried?'"
"But there is a part of me that is
still saying, 'Well, was there something else I could have done?'" as
reported by The New York Times.
Meanwhile, Obama added that while it was
necessary to acknowledge the strong emotions the war had raised, he went on to
blame social media for amplifying division, urging his former aides to
"take in the whole truth." He continued by saying, "What Hamas
did was horrific, and there's no justification for it," Obama said.
"And what is also true is that the occupation and what's happening to
Palestinians is unbearable."
Furthermore, in an interview two weeks ago,
he added that Israel's decisions in its war against Hamas, which have included
cutting off food and water for Gaza, could have dire consequences. He stated,
"The Israeli government's decision to cut off food, water, and electricity
to a captive civilian population [in Gaza] threatens not only to worsen a
growing humanitarian crisis – it could further harden Palestinian attitudes for
generations, erode global support for Israel, play into the hands of Israel's
enemies, and undermine long-term efforts to achieve peace and stability in the
region."
Currently, the US has not shown support for
a ceasefire and has instead stuck to the same rhetoric about a humanitarian
pause, allowing aid to reach Gaza. During a press conference in Amman on
Saturday, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken emphasized that Israel has the
right to defend itself, but he also reiterated that the US has a vested
interest in how it conducts its defense.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
had a testy relationship with Obama, including when the US administration was
negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran, as reported by Reuters.
President Joe Biden had reportedly acted as
a mediator between the two men.
As tens of thousands of Americans have
taken to the streets to protest the current US administration's policies on
Gaza, Obama also acknowledged several weeks ago that the US itself had
"fallen short of our higher values when engaged in war," referencing
September 11, 2001, which had created a lot of divides amongst Americans.
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