Obama’s Comments On Biden’s Hamas/Israel Ceasefire Proposal Sparks Controversy

Former President Barack Obama is under fire from his supporters following remarks on President Joe Biden’s proposed ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

Critics argue Obama’s language reveals a bias and lack of empathy in the ongoing war, which has seen the death of over 36,000 Palestinians and 1,478 Israelis since the war began on October 7, 2023.

Yesterday, President Biden laid out a plan to reach a ceasefire in three phases:

Phase 1: a six-week truce is to be established with Israeli forces withdrawing from populated parts of Gaza. Hostage exchanges would begin, particularly involving women, the elderly, and the wounded.

Additionally, 600 trucks would deliver humanitarian aid daily while negotiations with U.S. and Qatari mediation continue.

Phase 2: plans for the release of all remaining hostages, including male soldiers, marking a full Israeli retreat from Gaza and transitioning the truce to a permanent ceasefire if initial talks are successful.

Phase 3: the remains of Israeli hostages would be returned, and efforts to rebuild homes, schools, and hospitals in Gaza will commence. Encouraging Hamas to accept the proposal, Biden stated, “It’s time for this war to end,” calling on Israeli leaders to support the plan despite potential political pressure.

“President Biden presented a comprehensive and fair plan to halt the fighting in Gaza,” Obama stated in a post on Instagram. “This plan secures Israel’s safety, facilitates the return of hostages taken on October 7, increases humanitarian aid to Gaza, and involves the international community in Gaza’s reconstruction.”

Obama acknowledged that “a ceasefire alone won’t ease the pain of Israelis whose loved ones were butchered or abducted by Hamas, or the Palestinians whose families have been shattered by the subsequent war.”

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He addressed the broader goals, saying it could “stop the ongoing bloodshed, help families reunite and allow a surge of humanitarian aid to help desperate, hungry people.”

Obama emphasized that the ceasefire “can lay the foundation for what will be a long and difficult road to a future where Israel is secure and at peace with its neighbors, and Palestinians have the security, freedom and self-determination they have sought for so long.”

Social media’s reaction to Obama’s statements was swift and critical, focusing on the former president’s choice of words.

One commenter wrote, “The word choice in this post is a case study in propaganda. Israelis’ ‘butchered’ but Palestinians’ ‘shattered’? They dropped American bombs on tents, Barry.”

Another user added, “You’ve gaslit the humanity of the Palestinian people. Please don’t do that. No group of people is above another. Yet saying this right now, I’m going to have to contradict my own words to say ‘the occupying murderers & the present groups dictating the massacre of the Palestinians are not equal to them in this moment.'”

Additional comments included, “This use of language to describe what is happening shows how you really feel,” and “it’s so weird how you say Israelis were butchered by Hamas but Palestinian families were only shattered by ‘the subsequent war.’ As if Palestinians haven’t also been butchered by Israelis. This is such a painfully obvious manipulation of language in support of the Israelis.”

Encouraging Hamas to accept the proposal, Biden stated, “It’s time for this war to end,” calling on Israeli leaders to support the plan despite potential political pressure.