Obama: Israel’s current government has adopted a stance that abandons its moral foundation

Speaking in Belfast, Barack Obama said Israel’s reliance on strength and refusal to compromise could only pay off in the short term. The former U.S. president said the current Israeli government has chosen exactly that path, though not all Israelis support it.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama criticized the course of Israel’s current government. In a conversation with journalist Susan McKay in Belfast, he described a mindset in which Israel sees itself as the region’s strongest and most technologically advanced country and believes its security depends on taking what it wants and conceding nothing.

“That may work in the short term. But when you adopt that stance, you have given up your moral foundation. I would say the current Israeli government has adopted that stance,” Obama said. He also said Israel was taking land from people and going too far.

Not all Israelis back Netanyahu

Destroyed buildings in Gaza (file photo)

Obama stressed that not everyone in Israel supports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Since neither Israelis nor Palestinians will leave the region, he said, Israelis should consider what kind of life their children will have and find a just way to defend themselves without abandoning ethics and morality.

The Belfast event, attended by about 7,000 people according to the Irish Times, opened a speaking program that also includes Glasgow and Manchester. The paper said Obama kept his criticism of Donald Trump subtle but warned that democracy is “not inevitable.”