Former President Obama said Thursday that the current conflict in the Middle East is a “moral reckoning for all of us.”
“[A]“All of this is happening against the backdrop of decades of failure to achieve lasting peace for both Israelis and Palestinians,” the former president said Friday at the Obama Foundation’s Democracy Forum. “One based on real security for Israel, recognition of its right to exist and a peace based on an end to the occupation and the creation of a viable state and the self-determination of the Palestinian people.”
“Well, I admit it’s impossible to remain dispassionate about this carnage,” Obama continued. “It’s hard to be hopeful. The images of grieving families and bodies being recovered from the rubble force us all to face a moral reckoning.”
The current conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas began with a Hamas attack on Israel in early October that killed more than 1,400 people. More than 9,200 Palestinians have died in Israeli air strikes and a recent ground offensive in response, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
President Biden called for a humanitarian “pause” in the fighting on Wednesday after the White House said it would consider one to allow aid to reach the Gaza Strip. However, the government has also resisted a ceasefire. A group of 14 senators also called for a short-term “cessation of hostilities” on Thursday.
“Failure to adequately protect non-combatant civilians risks a dramatic escalation of the conflict in the region and does serious damage to the prospects for peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians,” senators said in a statement released late Thursday , including Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
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