Obama accuses Jews of ‘excessively’ taking land from Palestinians

Former President Barack Obama under fire for accusing Jews of “taking land off people,” sparking pro-Israel and conservative ire.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Former President Barack Obama has sparked criticism after accusing Jews who fled persecution in Europe of taking land from Palestinians during the establishment of Israel, prompting allegations that he distorted the Jewish state’s history and disregarded the Jewish people’s ancient connection to the Land of Israel.

Speaking Tuesday evening at the O2 arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Obama acknowledged the centuries of persecution experienced by Jews before arguing that their search for refuge had resulted in “injustice” against Palestinians.

“The fact is that the Jewish people, for millennia, were oppressed, discriminated against, killed,” Obama said.

“What is also undeniable is that they took land off people and they were excessive,” Obama continued, adding that Palestinians were understandably aggrieved.

The former president added that, in his opinion, Israel will have “ceded moral ground” if it refuses to make concessions and relies only on military solutions to confront strategic threats.

The comments came during a public conversation with journalist and author Susan McKay, part of a three-city speaking tour that also includes Glasgow and Manchester.

Obama’s remarks drew criticism from Jewish advocacy organizations and conservative commentators, who accused the former president of presenting Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel primarily as a consequence of European persecution while overlooking thousands of years of Jewish history in the region.

Media watchdog HonestReporting challenged Obama’s characterization, pointing to the Jewish people’s historical connection to the territory and the continuous Jewish presence there.

“Israel’s legitimacy did not begin with European persecution,” the organization wrote on X. “Neither did Jewish history.”

The Daily Wire also criticized Obama’s account, arguing that it overlooked the historical and religious ties between Jews and the Land of Israel and the circumstances surrounding the establishment of the modern Jewish state.

Critics additionally pointed to the extensive purchases of land by Jewish individuals and organizations during the decades preceding Israel’s independence in 1948, including transactions with Arab landowners under Ottoman and British rule.

Jewish immigration and land acquisition during that period included legally purchased property, while the 1948 Arab-Israeli war also resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs. The competing historical narratives surrounding those events remain central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

During his Belfast appearance, Obama also criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, arguing that Israel’s military and technological superiority did not give it unlimited freedom to pursue its objectives without considering Palestinian interests.

The former president warned that a policy based on superior military strength, territorial control and an unwillingness to make concessions could provide temporary security while undermining Israel’s moral standing.

“You have ceded moral ground,” Obama said of such an approach, adding that he believed the current Israeli government had adopted that position.

“I would say the current Israeli government appears to have taken that. It is incumbent on them to recognize that seven million Palestinians are not going anywhere.”

“Are you just going to be behind walls and wipe out everybody around you, or are you going to find some just way of defending yourself while still acting in an ethical, moral way?” he asked.

At the same time, he argued that Palestinians would have to abandon the expectation that Israel could be defeated militarily and instead pursue their objectives through political pressure, moral appeals and nonviolent strategies.

Palestinians could not “outkill, out-weaponize the Israelis,” Obama said.

He criticized Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, arguing that the massacre was extraordinarily unlikely to produce meaningful political progress for Palestinians.