Reflecting on his presidency, Obama posed the question, “Well, was there something else I could have done?”

Former President Barack Obama cautioned against ignoring the complexities of the Israel-Hamas war, warning that “all of us are complicit.”

“If you want to solve the problem, then you have to take in the whole truth. And you then have to admit nobody’s hands are clean, that all of us are complicit to some degree,” he said in an excerpted interview with Pod Save America released Saturday.

  • jimbo@lemmy.world
    3215·
    1 year ago

    I don’t see where Obama said anything about things being proportionate, and I don’t know what “proportionate” has to do with the fact that heinous acts have been taken by both sides.

    • coffee_poops@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2222·
      1 year ago

      There’s no “both sides” to this anymore. Almost ten times the people have been killed by Israel with almost all of them being civilians.

      • Serinus@lemmy.world
        3112·
        1 year ago

        How many times can you poke a bear before it decides it’s done?

        It’s not an excuse. Israel’s actions are absolutely disproportionate. I can argue either side, but that’s exactly the point. Nobody’s hands are clean. You don’t have to condone Israel’s actions to understand they were provoked.

        There can never be peace without both sides admitting some fault. Two wrongs don’t make a right. 9061 wrongs don’t cancel out 1400 wrongs. That’s not how any of this works.

        What do you suggest Israel does? What do you suggest Palestinians in Gaza do? Until you think a little bit deeper, you can’t just say dismissive, pithy things that only favor one side.

        This isn’t a sports team. You can’t just pick a side and cheer for them no matter what.

      • jimbo@lemmy.world
        2111·
        1 year ago

        There’s no “both sides” to this anymore. Almost ten times the people have been killed by Israel with almost all of them being civilians.

        Israel has killed ten times the people compared to who? Oh yeah, the other “side”, who also has killed a bunch of civilians.

        • coffee_poops@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          514·
          1 year ago

          I’m not talking a pro-Hamas position. I’m taking a pro-child position. You don’t give a fuck about people though.

          • trafficnab@lemmy.ca
            11·
            1 year ago

            In a complete shock to everyone, the guy with the tankie name is all for the deaths of innocent civilians

            At least they wear it like a badge of honor, making it easy to identify and ignore them

              • trafficnab@lemmy.ca
                6·
                1 year ago

                We should give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he’s only advocating for the ~25% (2m people or so) of the Israeli civilian population that’s not native born to be killed? Or maybe only the ~500k Israeli civilians who are >75 years old that were alive to see the 1948 war and creation of the state? Maybe some combination of the two? Surely a tankie can’t be advocating for the genocide of an entire nation?

                Edit: Oh he messaged me instead of replying? Not sure if that was on accident but:

                settlers aren’t civilians, only settlers think they’re civilians

                and you are definitely so good at ignoring when you reply to my comment

                you libs are a joke and a half ill tell ya

                No no, you misunderstand me, when I say “ignore” I only mean disregard your opinions, there’s no way I’d miss out on pointing and laughing with everyone else at the genocidal tankies, we have to make sure nobody around here thinks it’s an appropriate opinion to have

                • MonkeyBusiness@lemmy.one
                  2·
                  1 year ago

                  They DM’d me too, I suspect mods banned him. Given his account is only a few hours old, I don’t get why he’s not just making another one.