NEW YORK (VINnews)  — Former U.S. President Barack Obama has drawn criticism from conservative and pro-Israel commentators after claiming that Jews fleeing persecution in Europe “took land off people” and “were excessive” in establishing themselves in Israel. Critics accused him of overlooking the Jewish people’s more than 3,000-year connection to the Land of Israel.

Obama made the remarks Tuesday during a conversation with journalist Susan McKay at Belfast’s O2 arena, as part of a speaking tour that also includes Glasgow and Manchester.

Discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Obama acknowledged centuries of Jewish persecution, particularly in Europe, and said Jews had understandably sought refuge. “The fact is that the Jewish people, for millennia, were oppressed, discriminated against, killed,” he said. “What is also undeniable is that they took land off people and they were excessive.” Obama added that Palestinians who lost land understandably viewed it as an injustice and sought its return.

The remarks prompted accusations that Obama had portrayed Israel’s establishment primarily as a consequence of European antisemitism and the Holocaust, disregarding the Jewish people’s ancestral connection to the territory and their continuous presence there throughout history.

The conservative news website The Daily Wire, co-founded by Jewish commentator Ben Shapiro, accused Obama of promoting a distorted historical narrative that depicted Jews as outsiders who displaced the local population. Media watchdog HonestReporting similarly criticized the former president for overlooking the Jewish people’s historical ties to Israel. “Israel’s legitimacy did not begin with European persecution,” the organization wrote. “Neither did Jewish history.”

Critics also pointed to documented Jewish land purchases from Arab landowners during the Ottoman and British Mandate periods, arguing that these transactions complicated Obama’s broad characterization of Jewish settlement.

During the discussion, Obama emphasized that neither Israelis nor Palestinians would disappear from the region and that both peoples needed to acknowledge this reality. He urged Israelis to consider whether their children and grandchildren could live indefinitely behind security barriers or whether lasting security required a political settlement consistent with moral and ethical principles.

Obama argued that Israel, as the militarily stronger party, bore particular responsibility for breaking the cycle of violence. He warned that relying on military and technological superiority while refusing concessions could provide temporary security but ultimately undermine Israel’s moral standing. He also criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, while emphasizing that not all Israelis supported its policies.

Turning to the Palestinians, Obama argued that they could not defeat Israel militarily and should instead pursue nonviolent strategies based on moral and political persuasion. He condemned Hamas’ October 7 attack, saying such violence was highly unlikely to bring meaningful political progress for Palestinians.

Obama identified ending the violence, alleviating humanitarian suffering, halting settlement expansion in the West Bank and rebuilding Gaza as immediate priorities. However, he acknowledged that even these goals would require substantial diplomatic efforts and an American administration prepared to pursue creative solutions.

The former president compared the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Northern Ireland’s troubled history, warning that societies can become trapped by historical grievances and competing national narratives.

His comments nevertheless reignited debate over how Israel’s establishment should be understood historically, particularly the relationship between Jewish national aspirations, centuries of Jewish attachment to the land and Palestinian claims of dispossession.