Obama says Jews understandably sought refuge but Palestinians saw loss of land as an injustice

Former U.S. President Barack Obama said the Jewish people's long history of persecution made their search for refuge understandable, while arguing that Palestinians also suffered dispossession and had legitimate grievances over lost land.

"The fact is that the Jewish people, for millennia, were oppressed, discriminated against, killed. Europe was responsible for much of it. They understandably sought a refuge," Obama said during an event in Belfast.

"That is undeniable. What is also undeniable is that they took land off people and they were excessive," he added. "And those people understandably said, 'This is injustice and I want my land back.'"

Obama also criticized the current Israeli government's approach, arguing that Israel's military strength did not remove the need to recognize that millions of Palestinians "are not going anywhere."

At the same time, he said Palestinians needed a strategy that was not based on defeating Israel militarily. He also criticized the October 7 Hamas attack, saying it could hardly have been designed in a way less likely to produce meaningful change.

Obama made the remarks during a public discussion in Belfast after receiving an honorary doctorate from Queen's University Belfast.